The Beacon Civil War
by Coeur Al'Aran
Summary: Jaune had no interest in Ozpin's latest training initiative, especially when it pit boys against girls across Beacon. Cowardice or not, he intended to hide and wait the whole thing out. Leading the male alliance wasn't part of the plan, nor was becoming mankind's final hope. He was a coward, an idiot and a weakling. It was just a shame no one would believe him when he said so!
1. Chapter 1

**Here we are with a new fic. This one will have replaced Not this time, Fate – but on an unusual schedule. Instead of being every week, it's going to rotate with another fic. These will each update every two weeks, which still means you'll get a chapter every Saturday, but it will be on a rotating schedule. Alternating weeks. If in doubt, check the date at the bottom.**

 **The concept for this fic came about during the Writer Games, but actually came to me long before. Back when writing Professor Arc, a lot of people directed me towards Ciaphas Cain as someone of a similar nature. I'd never read it before, but decided to do so, and quite enjoyed it. Considering how many people said Jaune was like it, I decided that I would try and write an** _ **actual**_ **Ciaphas Cain inspired novel. It's not a direct copy, nor a crossover. Think of it more as me emulating the writing style of Sandy Mitchell, and especially some of the presentation.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

* * *

 _ **Forward**_

 _To whomever it might concern…_

 _When we think back on that day there is a certain disconnection, a peculiar pit that opens deep in our stomachs. The memories remain muted, the sensations dulled or lost altogether. All that remains are the ties that were made, the vaguest feelings of what was sacrificed – but also what was gained. I was there, as was everyone else within Beacon, and yet each of us observed only the smallest part of the full story. A facsimile, if you will._

 _Few records remain of that time, and fewer are the people willing to speak of what occurred. Tales, as they oft do, become exaggerated and distorted – grander than life and greater than they have any right to be. It is my task, self-appointed as it may be, to sift through the misinformation and chronicle this grand event. An ambitious undertaking for sure, but one I've felt myself up to the challenge of completing. Alas, the task has been harder than I anticipated._

 _Or at least it was, until my close companion, teammate and confidante came forth. For it seems that in the dreary hours where sleep eluded us and danger closed in, he took to taking down his thoughts and memories in a journal. Messy, illegible at times, and with a narrowness of perspective that boggles my mind, the notes contained nevertheless painted the truest, most apt picture of those times as any I've ever heard._

 _They ought to. He was there, after all. Of all the people who fought in that dark time, his is perhaps the one which deserves to be told the most._

 _The tale of Jaune Arc. A simple man who would achieve great things. Not through aspiration, nor greed. But through the harsh demands of necessity._

 _But I am getting ahead of myself. What you see before you is my attempt to make sense and order of the chaos that is my friend's journal. Being a purely subjective work, Jaune's grasp on situations was firmly rooted in what he himself could see. As such, and where necessary, I have taken to enhancing the events with extracts from trusted sources. I have also added my own annotations in several places, either to expand on a situation Jaune saw fit to offer no detail to, or to offer a view of the wider picture. You will know these extracts as my own by the sight of my handwriting. I have also arranged it somewhat into something more befitting of a novelisation. I'm sure we can all deal without the regular accounts of Weiss Schnee's beauty and grace that litter the pages. And, on a personal note, if I see her and Jaune's name written within a love heart once more, I may snap._

 _Ahem, I digress..._

 _What is contained here will no doubt shock many. There are certain expectations, certain legends which are associated to men. Ever must we remember that men are just that, as human and fallible as the rest of us – and prone to bouts of emotion. It is said however, that bravery is not in the act of feeling no fear, but in besting it._

 _I bring you now the tale of Jaune Arc. The tale of a simple man thrust into difficult times. I bring you…_

 _The Beacon Civil War._

 _Authored:_

 _Lie Ren_

 _Chronicler and Companion_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1**_ \- _**The War Begins**_

"War comes without warning. Without mercy. I hope you'll never have to face it, but if you do – a word of advice. All you need is a little confidence, that and- oh wait, I think your mother's calling me."

 _Nicholas Arc_

* * *

There's something you learn when you live in Beacon. Never let your guard down. It doesn't matter where you are. Classroom, auditorium – even the toilets. The moment you let your guard down, you open yourself up for an attack. The cafeteria was no different, and so it was Ren and I walked in with our heads held high and a certain wariness to our step. Whatever Gods there were out there must have smiled on us however, because for the first time in what felt like weeks, we weren't greeted by an impending food fight or whatever latest madness always seemed to engulf our teams. In fact, everything seemed unusually calm, with even Nora quietly chatting to Pyrrha.

That should have been our first warning, really.

Perhaps we were distracted that day, or hungry. Maybe we had just allowed the splendour of the day to claim us, for it was a rare moment when Ren and I could relax and spend some quality time together without something or someone making things complicated. As the only two men among six women, it was sometimes hard to experience that.

 _(Something I can personally attest to here. Jaune and I shared a special relationship, that of having no special relationship at all. In a team like ours, it was a rare – even joyous – thing to find someone who definitely didn't harbour any hidden feelings for you.)_

Whatever the case, we sat down alongside our team when waved over, and opposite Team RWBY as usual. Our sister team in every regard, and one of the best first year teams in the school, we were all on close footing and spent most of the day together.

Our team were no slouches either, of course, but that wasn't something I could take any personal pride in. Ren and Nora were skilled, but it was Pyrrha who brought us out from ignominy, and carried me out as well. Our reputation preceded us – and was completely undeserved on my part.

"Morning, Jaune," Ruby said, the ever-adorable and excited girl somehow managing to wash away all traces of sleep from me. She had that effect, and not for the first time, I wished I could have a Ruby Rose alarm clock. It couldn't have been less painful than the Nora Valkyrie version, which sometimes woke you up with shouting, other times by jumping on top of you. I nodded back to her.

"Morning, Ruby. Morning, Blake, Yang," I put on my best lady-killer smile and tried not to screw it up. "Snow Angel."

I screwed it up.

To this day, I have no idea why I kept saying that. I knew she hated the name - I wasn't _that_ oblivious. It was just that the word rolled off the tongue, often without any time for my brain to process the hated moniker and kill it. The beautiful Weiss Schnee growled something back, a mixture of bile and lemon juice that warned me I wasn't on the right track and was in fact liable to receive a rapier to the throat.

At least in that regard, normality reigned. I laughed awkwardly and waved it off, seeking refuge in Yang's face instead. She grinned but seemed more willing to watch the impending slaughter than intervene on my behalf. I didn't even bother looking to Blake. She'd have been nose deep in another book. In all the time I'd known her, she had never bothered to reply or speak to me. From anyone else, I might have taken that as a sign they hated me, but it was different with her. She never meant anything by it. It was just how she was.

"Good morning as well, Jaune~" Pyrrha interrupted. My partner always had a smile for me, and a greeting, too – which was a little odd since we'd woken up in the same room and already exchanged greetings. Come to think of it, we'd only been apart for fifteen minutes tops.

"Uh, morning," I said. "Again…"

Yang and Ruby sniggered. They often did that, and especially when Pyrrha would get embarrassed and look away. I'd asked Ruby once or twice, but she'd link her hands behind her back and smile. "I can't tell you," she'd always say.

Some friends, huh? None of them would ever tell me.

 _(Because we really shouldn't have to, Jaune...)_

It didn't matter at that moment. With it being breakfast, and with classes ahead, there wasn't the time to try and penetrate the impenetrable mystery that was my partner. Instead, I picked up my knife and fork and dug into the fried eggs and toast arrayed on the plate before me. Greasy, unhealthy, and with several rashers of bacon on the side, it was the only way I liked to start the day. Pointedly, I did _not_ like to start the day with an announcement from Ozpin over the PA systems arrayed about the school – which was precisely what I got, and what should have been yet _another_ sign that the day was about to get so much worse.

"Greetings Beacon and transfer students," Ozpin began. "While I do hate to interrupt your busy mornings, there is a school-wide announcement that needs to be made, and I must ask you all to listen carefully. The Vytal Festival is approaching, an event which gives many of you the chance to test yourselves, to earn glory a chance to meet new people. This event, while competitive in nature, is of great political importance to Remnant. Not only does it promote peace and co-operation between our great nations, it also showcases the skillsets and training available within Beacon. Our future intake of students, the very future generations that protect Vale from the Grimm… the quality of what we receive very much rests in your hands. This is, as much as it may not have seemed it, a very deep responsibility."

It was all very flowery, and no doubt of great importance. I felt I could be forgiven for only paying half-attention, however. When it came to competing in the tournament, my inclusion was almost certainly going to be a non-factor. I'd run forward like a good little meat shield, while everyone else focused on winning – and then I'd bow out for the other rounds and let Pyrrha storm her way to what was probably victory number seven hundred and something. Some might have called that lazy, but I'd never really been one for competitions. Probably because I'd never been good enough to _win_ anything, but it still counted.

"It is with the Vytal Festival in mind that your teachers and I have devised an exciting new training scenario for you all." Ozpin continued. "Attendance is mandatory, as this training might very well save your lives against the Grimm further down the line. What's more, all lessons will be cancelled for the duration of it. All homework is also postponed."

Now _that_ was something I could get behind. I wasn't the only one in the cafeteria to cheer, and my voice was quickly overwhelmed by louder students, most noticeably Yang and Nora. There was a small part of me that wasn't quite so sure, however. It began as a tingling in my leg. One that made me tap my foot nervously against the ground as a sense of wrongness came over me. At the time, I thought nothing of it, but I'd soon come to regret the moment I missed that sign.

 _(A regret that I shared. Jaune's sense for danger would prove useful many times in his career, but I can't help but wish he'd discovered it fifteen minutes earlier.)_

"As of right now all flights from Beacon have been suspended, and the only flights _to_ Beacon will be to bring supplies into the school. The boundaries for this training exercise will also be the entire school itself up to the border of the Emerald Forest, the Cliffs or the Beacon Docks. Any attempts to travel beyond this area will result in you being brought back to the school and placed in detention until the exercise is complete. You will then also suffer extended punishment after the initiative is complete."

That got a few murmurs out of the people in the hall. So, there was to be no escaping this training of theirs. That was understandable. The bigger question in my mind, and the thing which made me nervous, was the suggestion that the training was going to be so bad we would want to run.

( _And if only we'd known at the time, we might have given it a go anyway._ )

"The student body will be divided into teams," the headmaster went on, "and we will be assuming a `War Games` scenario spanning the entire Academy. Rules and regulations have already been sent to your scrolls, but key facts are that Beacon has now been divided into zones with key capture points. Whichever team controls the most capture points at the end of seven days will be victorious. The winners will receive an automatic pass on Combat Class Coursework for this semester," excited conversation broke out, "But they will also receive a stipend of 2,500 lien _per person_ , with which to decorate their dorms."

I shared a quick look with Ren at that, pink eyes meeting my own as he cocked his head. The pass on coursework already sounded great to me but two-and-a-half thousand lien per person? That was incredible! An extra ten thousand to decorate our room would mean a lot. It would be enough for a hot tub, not that we had the room. Even so, game systems, comfier beds – a couch? I wasn't the only one thinking such selfish thoughts, because I could hear Team RWBY discussing exactly what they should buy once they won.

If our team was assigned with theirs, then the whole thing would have been over in second. Even so, I couldn't help but cross my fingers under the table and share a grin with our secret weapon. Pyrrha smiled back, a confident and competitive gleam appearing in her eye. With her Semblance, not to mention her general skill and ability, I was beyond confident that we could win. Pyrrha could trounce whole teams, and did so on occasion. With Nora long for the ride, we were looking a shoe in for victory. I rubbed my hands together and imagining what I'd spend it on.

"Miss Goodwitch has asked me to remind you that force should be kept to levels expressed in her class, and nothing more. The infirmary will be open to teams of both sides, and Miss Tsune has assured me she will be happy to respond with force to any who try and bring the war games into her domain. There will be… repercussions for teams who flaunt or seek to break the rules. I would list what those are, but I believe it might be best left to your – and Miss Goodwitch's – imagination. Further details of objectives, rules and victory conditions have been sent to each of your scrolls. We wish you well and encourage everyone to fight towards the rewards offered. Even to those who lose, the valuable experience on offer might well save your lives in the future."

"We have thought long and hard about the teams, and believe the following to be a balanced and suitable solution. It should also make identifying allies and enemies easier, and offer unparalleled opportunities for transfer students to interact and form bonds with domestic students."

We all waited impatiently. Why the reasons had to be explained, I didn't know, but the sooner we found out which side we were on, the better. If our team was against Team RWBY, then it would be best to attack first. I swallowed and looked around the cafeteria, suddenly aware of just how tense everyone was. _It's fine,_ I told myself. _I have Pyrrha and Nora on my team. What can go wrong?_

"The teams will be boys versus girls," Ozpin said.

What…?

"The War Games will begin immediately."

WHAT!?

There was an odd moment of quiet, and looking back on it now, I could recognise it as that strange period of calm before the storm. In my head, I'd always thought that a symbolic thing, but the truth was just that it took our minds a few seconds to process the bombshell that Ozpin had just dropped on us, though the smarter students were quick to act. Namely, Sun Wukong threw himself out of the cafeteria window and fled for his life.

All hell broke loose a second later.

I was still shocked, but Ren moved with admirable haste and flipped the table we were dining at up on its side. He placed one foot against it and kicked it directly at the biggest threat in the room. Pyrrha had a moment to widen her eyes, before Yang stood up and punched the entire thing into sawdust.

That was fine. It gave us the time necessary for my brain to kick in, and for both Ren and I to do the only thing we could do.

Run.

"Don't look back!" Ren gasped, ducking low as a plate nearly took his head off. "Whatever you do, Jaune, don't look back!"

"Do you think they're chasing us?"

"Oh, _Renny_!" Nora howled. Her call was followed by several agonised, and more importantly _masculine_ , screams behind us.

"I think it's safe to say yes to that one," he said. To this day, I have no idea how he managed to sound calm about that, especially since it sounded like a Goliath was hunting us down. I had to chalk it down to extreme mental discipline, or perhaps some otherworldly training regime. Well, either that or he'd just become inured to Nora's madness.

 _(Definitely the latter…_ )

Up ahead and all around us, the battle raged. Ozpin couldn't have chosen a worse time for this, what with it being the lunch hour, and we'd ended up with a brawl the likes of which I'd never seen before. Probably the only saving grace was the fact that most of the students were unarmed, but it was amazing what impromptu weapons a huntsman could find if they really tried. I watched a man be bludgeoned from behind with a chair, while another lashed out at his female teammate with a baguette in one hand and a spoon in the other. She caught the spoon in the teeth of a fork, and then twisted it to the side to disarm him. The two began to wrestle on the floor, rolling back and forth as each tried to drive the fork down and claim victory.

Simply put, it was madness!

And worse, it was a madness that was soon to get a lot worse for me. As Ren and I sprinted towards the exit, we saw several figures doing the same – and a nightmarish vision of purest evil appeared before it, blocking off any escape.

"Not today, boys," Coco Adel cried, handbag at her side. "Momma needs a walk-in wardrobe, and Ozpin is paying!"

"Wait," Ren whispered. "Isn't her handbag her-"

"Her weapon," I finished miserably, right as Coco activated the absurdly sized mini-gun. There was another moment of shock and horror as everyone realised what was about to happen. We had aura, sure, but that didn't mean it wouldn't sting like a bitch. Plus, there went the exit.

"If you're packing between your legs, then get down and surrender!"

"Y-You heard her..." Velvet said nervously, striding up to stand next to her partner. She wrung her hands together and lowered her head. "I think it would be best if you just surrendered. We don't want to hurt anyone..." Her words were as gentle and soft-spoken as ever, yet she held Yatsuhashi's sword and there was no sign of the giant man. I had to assume no news was bad news in that regard, and reminded myself that despite her kind nature, she _was_ still a huntress - not to mention a year or more above us.

"Do we surrender?" I asked. It might have sounded cowardly, but these _were_ just war games. They wouldn't kill us, and it would surely be better than actually trying to fight back against them. "We could just give up now."

Ren opened his mouth to reply, but a voice cut us off.

"And I'll have Renny and Jauney as prisoners," Nora giggled. "And I'll pet them, and love them, and dress them up in all kinds of frilly clothes."

"F-Frilly clothes…?" Pyrrha's voice was hoarse. "Can… Can we take pictures?"

"Well yeah, duh…"

Ren and I shared a quick look.

"Death?" I suggested.

"Or escape," Ren agreed. We dashed to the side at the moment Coco opened fire, and quickly ducked behind some overturned tables for cover. "We need to get out and into the corridors. We can lose them if we cut through some classrooms."

"That means getting out of here first," I said, jumping over a pair of people wrestling on the ground. "The front doors out. We could try and get out the staff areas, maybe the kitchens."

Ren shook his head and pointed to the area the servers and staff usually worked from. Usually, those were open and had people behind them, but there was now solid steel shutters pulled down in front of them. I hadn't noticed that earlier, but they probably pulled them down the moment Ozpin's message began. They'd have known about this in advance, after all.

How had we not noticed that?

"Well I'm out of ideas," I said, somewhat hysterically. In my defence, we _did_ have Nora, Pyrrha, Yang and everyone else chasing us. Most teams were fairly even when it came to the split between boys and girls, as was ours, but Team RWBY had kind of thrown a spanner in the works, except that said spanner was the strongest spanner in Beacon. "Ren, we _need_ to get out of here. You can't let Weiss capture me. She'll kill me!"

"I'm sure she wouldn't."

"I called her `Snow Angel`!"

Ren paused and opened his mouth, then cringed. "Okay, good point. Windows?"

I nodded. "Windows."

"We need a distraction." Ren poked his head out over the tables, but was quickly pushed back down as Coco's fire raked by. "I doubt we can move if she has us pinned, though I'd rather take my chances running through a hail of bullets than let Nora capture me."

I winced at the thought, and then winced again when bullets bounced off the back of the table. It was thick wood, and reinforced with metal, but it wouldn't last. "I'll see what I can do to get her fire off us."

Ren looked my way. "You have a plan?"

"In a manner of speaking." I pushed a little to the side and raised my voice. "We need to rush her all at once. She can't take us all out if we work together!"

"Are you mad?" someone cried.

There was no time for this. "Listen to me! I know this is dangerous, and I know she's terrifying, but it's just one person and she can't keep us pinned down if we work together. Remember teamwork, remember what a difference it can make!"

Several men nearby nodded in my direction. Hidden behind tables, chairs, or just huddled in the middle of the cafeteria. Wherever they were, their eyes gained just that little but of conviction. Well, that or desperation.

"It might hurt," I continued. "Some of us won't make it, and some of us will take blows – but we have aura, and she can only shoot in one direction! So charge, men! CHARGE!"

"RARGHHH!"

"YAHHH!"

As one, the frightened and pinned men moved, hurtling themselves over furniture and rushing towards the doors. There was no bravery to it, just a desperate need to escape while they could – but that was fine. It would be enough. I grabbed Ren's arm and dragged him with me.

"We're not charging with them?"

"Hell no!" Those guys were going to be a nice distraction, but I didn't hold much hope of them making it through, and I wasn't going to get shot trying to help them. I realised a second later what that might have sounded like to Ren and tried to explain myself. "If we go with them, we'll just draw the others after us. If we want to give them the best chance possible to escape, we need to split the strongest of the girls in two."

It was complete nonsense, of course. My thoughts were purely selfish, but I doubt anyone could blame me for that. I'd have time to feel guilty about those guys later, but so long as I was alive and free to _feel_ that guilt, I was sure I'd be able to get over it.

"I understand," Ren said.

He really didn't. He was an honourable and good guy like that - not like me.

"Let's just get to the windows and get out of here," I hissed.

Sure, it would hurt, but at least the overly tall windows were aligned across two sets of walls, which meant with Coco distracted by the brave horde of sacrificial lambs, we had a clear path. The two of us paused for a second until the gunfire sounded, and it was only once it had moved on that we did the same. We broke from cover, dashing across floor covered in soda, food and unconscious men.

"I see them," Ruby cried. "Over there!"

"Damn it, Ruby!" I howled. "I thought we were friends!"

"I'm sorry Jaune," she called back. Her voice sounded closer, a lot closer. I turned back in time to see her hurtling across the cafeteria at Semblance-induced speeds. She didn't have her scythe, which was equal parts luck and miracle, but that didn't mean much when all she had to do was delay us. Yang was close behind, and she was as armed as she ever was.

"Ruby at six O'clock," I hissed. "I can't shake her!"

"We can't outrun her," Ren panted.

"We have to get rid of her," I agreed, looking around for anything that might help me. The last time we'd had a fight in the cafeteria, I'd been next to useless, but that wasn't to say I hadn't paid attention. I was better prepared now, and also filled with enough fear that my mind was working at a thousand thoughts per second. Even while running, I scanned the tables for something that might help, and my eyes lit up as I spied a bowl of cookies. "Perfect," I hissed, snatching it as we ran by. "I'll use this to distract her."

"Do you think it will work?" Ren asked.

Whether I thought it would or not wasn't important, but we had to do something. With a quick shrug, I turned and tossed the cookies behind me, directly into Ruby's path. She batted them aside with her hands, and even managed to look vaguely offended.

"Jaune, I'm not an idiot," she said. "I may like cookies, but it's not like I'll chase after one if it's thrown at me."

Well, that was me out of ideas. Maybe it had been a long shot in the first place, but Ruby's love of treats was the only thing I knew. I tossed the bowl behind me and tried to run faster, only to be surprised by the sound of a high-pitched yelp as Ruby's foot stood on the bowl I'd so carelessly discarded. All her weight settled down on it, and then went in a completely different direction as the metal thing slid to the side. She cried out and skidded across the ground, her own momentum working against her.

There was a might crash as she hit a bunch of recovering guys like a bowling ball.

I cheered and flashed Ren a thumbs up. "Distraction successful!"

"Good job!" Ren praised.

I didn't have the heart to correct him.

I focused on the windows instead, out only real hope of escape. They were tall and solid things, but we had aura, and I had my armour. As a means to help him, and also selfishly to get out first, I sprinted ahead of Ren, determined to throw myself and smash the glass with my larger aura reserves while he took up the rear and got through without harm. With a mighty yell, I pushed off the ground and sailed through the air.

I didn't expect to freeze in mid-air.

To be fair, I don't think Ren expected me to either, for he crashed into my back and bounced back to the floor with a grunt.

My new-found powers of levitation hadn't come at a good time, and it took me a second to recognise the sensation and where it was from. During that time, my legs kicked uselessly, struggling for purchase. It wasn't _me_ that had been lifted into the air, however.

It was my armour.

"Oh no…"

"Oh yes," Pyrrha echoed. Against my will, I found myself rotated in mid-air so that I faced my partner. The normally sweet and kind Pyrrha Nikos was smiling, but it didn't quite convey the same feeling of gentle affection it usually did. "You need to be careful, Jaune. You might hurt yourself if you jumped through the window. We can't have that. _I_ can't have that…"

"Y-Yeah," I said, chuckling awkwardly. "Well maybe you could open the window and push me through it instead? That would be nice."

"I could do that, but I won't. I wouldn't normally do this, but it's part of the war games, so I have no choice. Don't worry, though. Ozpin said we could take prisoners, a-a-and you can m-maybe be m-my prisoner." Pyrrha's cheeks grew progressively darker as she spoke, and her hands were wringing together. "I-I'll look after you. I'll be able to keep you safe and sound." Her eyes widened. "I c-can even feed you. You'll n-need to be restrained, but… but…"

She shuddered.

"Uh, Pyrrha… you okay?" I tried to wriggle out of her grip, but there was nothing actually holding me, just the armour that was strapped to me. "This is kind of uncomfortable. Can you let me down?"

"D-Don't worry Jaune," Pyrrha yelled, far louder than was really necessary. "I'll make sure you're nice and comfortable, and I'll visit you all the time. If you need someone to confide in, you can lean on me as much as you want."

Yeah, that sounded nice and everything, but Yang and Weiss were getting closer, and I kind of didn't want them to get their hands on me. I worked my hands over my armour, unlatching it as best I could. For crying out loud, why were the straps in such stupid places?

"What are you doing, Ren?" Pyrrha asked, eyes narrowed as she watched her teammate take hold of my legs. "I'm not so cruel that I wouldn't let you escape if you wanted. Nora is after you, and she… well, she's Nora."

"While that offer is _very_ tempting, I'm afraid you have something I need."

"Ren…" I whispered. I couldn't believe my best friend's loyalty, that he would dare stand up to Pyrrha Nikos like this, and for no other reason than to save me from whatever terrible fate awaited me. At that very moment, I could not have respected him more. He was a true friend, a brother in arms.

 _(Reading this now, I can't help but feel a little ashamed that my thoughts at the time were simply that Jaune's leadership was the only thing keeping me out of Nora's clutches. I didn't fancy my chances going it alone out there.)_

"I'm sorry Ren," Pyrrha said. "While we're teammates and I _do_ respect you, right now there is one thing that divides us. I am a woman, and you are a man." Her eyes narrowed. "No matter how feminine you might appear."

Ren's brow twitched. "Was the last part entirely necessary?"

"I'm just getting in the mood." Pyrrha giggled. "Don't worry, we'll win this war games thing pretty quickly, so you two won't have to be prisoners for long."

While I had no doubt as to that, it didn't stop the fact it would only take ten seconds for Weiss and Yang to make my life a living hell. It would be painful, unending, and no doubt incredibly humiliating. Comparatively, if I could escape and get to the Emerald Forest, I could take my chances among the Grimm – who would be far kinder.

"Get ready," Ren whispered to me, voice low. He raised it to address Pyrrha. "I do apologise, Pyrrha. Unfortunately, the two of us have an appointment elsewhere. We'll see you later, maybe once this war is over."

Pyrrha's eyes widened, sensing something wrong. She pulled one arm back, and the armour on my chest tugged quickly in her direction. At the exact same time, I finally managed to undo the final clasp, the leather belts giving way. With the sudden force exerted on it, not to mention Ren pulling me the other way by my legs, the breastplate slipped over my shoulders and away. Suddenly a lot lighter than it had been before, it shot for her face. Pyrrha had only the time to yelp before it clotheslined her.

I, on the other hand, had plenty of time to experience the sweet embrace of gravity. I tried to get my feet underneath me, but realised at the last second that Ren still had hold of them. With a startled cry, I face planted the hard, tiled floor. "Ow…"

"Sorry," Ren said. He looked above me to the encroaching horde and his eyes widened. "They're coming!"

"Throw me!" I hissed.

"What?"

"The window – throw me! There's no time to explain."

Ren looked down at me, to the window, and then down at my feet, which he still had hold of. It wasn't my best plan for sure, and Ren probably wasn't sure what the point of it was in the first place. Did I intend to use my body to break the glass so that he could follow me unharmed? Did I intend to shock our pursuers into pausing long enough for us to escape?

In truth, my plan was simply that I was laid flat on the ground and I didn't want to be. If that meant being launched out of the window, then so be it. I just wanted to be somewhere the girls weren't.

"THROW ME, DAMN IT!"

My world shifted as Ren kept hold of my feet and swung back. Centrifugal force lifted me off the ground, and I had a moment of weightlessness, followed abruptly by panic as I suddenly had a _very_ good view of the window. When Ren let go, that view got even better – though not in a way I particularly liked.

My aura flared, protecting me from the damage as Ren launched me through the window like some kind of surface to air dust missile. My arch was impressive, covering several metres or more, before I fell back to the floor and impacted the soft grass outside. I spat out some of it, only to choke a moment later as my friend grabbed my collar and dragged me onto my feet.

"It worked," Ren said, hopping through the smashed window. "What now?"

I had no idea what he wanted my advice. I thought our relationship was clear; he was the calm and intelligent guy. Me? I was just the guy out of my depth who blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Run!"

He looked startled. "Run…?"

"They're outside," Yang shouted.

"Damn it, let's hunt them down," Weiss growled. "I want Arc's head on a pike!"

"Running," Ren whispered, dragging me to my feet and then following my orders to the letter. I followed my companion, even as my heart pounded in my chest, and my breath came out in harsh pants. I looked back to the carnage that had overtaken the cafeteria. Shadows fought within, and windows were smashed as tables and chairs flew. People fled as well, but those that did were few and far between, and almost all male. Even as we passed away out of sight, and far out of hearing, the noise did not go away.

In fact, it was all around us.

Beacon was at war… a civil war, and there was not a place on campus that would be spared. We would live as fugitives and refugees, constantly afraid that we might round the corner and run into a pair of breasts.

The Beacon Civil War had begun… and we were not prepared.

* * *

 **And there we go, the first chapter. As you can probably tell, this story takes place in the first person past tense, and is definitely being `read` by someone `after the fact`. It's an unusual way to write it, but I think it will work better in the long run.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 16th September**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter of Beacon Civil War, which is definitely an unusual one to format and write compared to my other fics. Sandy Mitchell's tendency to break the flow for excerpts and comments is fairly well-known, but it's hard making sure they're detailed enough to suffice, without being so long they take away from the story.**

 **Glad to see it being well received though.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

* * *

 _If you have read this far, then I commend you already, for Jaune's personal manner of writing can be difficult to grasp even at the best of times. Though your eyes might not yet have been opened to his nature, you have no doubt noticed his penchant for glossing over details that don't involve him. In order to help make sense of what Jaune himself would never bother to mention, I have employed a small excerpt from a trusted source, who better describes the events which happened in the immediate aftermath of beginning of the Beacon Civil War._

 _Would that Jaune's own accounts be so detailed, but alas, he has never been one for the bigger picture._

 _Lie Ren_

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War, Chapter 2, Paragraph 6-15**

 **Written by Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _To better understand the situation that befell Beacon, it's important to note that the male population was not, in itself, all that weaker than the female forces. Despite several stand out fighters among our ranks, Pyrrha Nikos being one such example, there were also many celebrated and powerful fighters in possession of different chromosomes. What led to their initial defeat, and further despair, was the way in which the war began._

 _Headmaster Ozpin's decision to declare the start of the war during a lunch hour was either a calculated move of genius, or a gross mistake. Over seventy per cent of the student body were present in the cafeteria or on their way to it when the battle began. Even assuming that there was an equal representation of boys and girls on either side, it meant that whichever side emerged victorious would have already dealt with over two-thirds of the enemy forces, not counting those who escaped. As everyone knows, thanks to the quick thinking by several powerful girls, and Coco Adel's choice of weapon being a fashion accessory she carried around freely, we took control of the cafeteria and eventually defeated – and captured – every man who dared stand against us._

 _In one fell swoop, over half of the male population of Beacon had been subdued. There was more to the women's success than just this, however._

 _The men who fled lived to see another day, and those who had not been at the cafeteria at all were also free. They were scattered across Beacon, however. Leaderless, disheartened and without the means to fight back._

 _We, on the other hand, were all gathered in one place, or at least seventy per cent of us. Fed on our recent victory, and in the momentary lull that followed, we had the opportunity to discuss and to plan, to argue and to talk – to communicate and to develop a structure. The benefits of this cannot be understated, for it allowed us to create organisation on the first day of the war, while the men of Beacon were still mid-flight_

 _Hungry women outside of the cafeteria came for food, and were quickly inducted into the ranks. The situation was explained to them, their roles given, and as such, every woman who approached was able to fit seamlessly into the feminine forces. In a matter of hours, we had become an effective, organised and cohesive fighting army._

 _Had the men won that initial battle, our situations might have been reversed, but it was not so, and that was by the grace of our leaders, and the bravery of our warriors._

 _But there was one more advantage that could not be overstated, and it would come to dominate the battlefield up until the end of the Civil War. Access to and from Beacon had been denied, with nothing capable of being delivered in or out of the academy. In such a situation, and with the men scattered to the wind, whomsoever controlled the cafeteria, controlled the food and drink of Beacon._

 _And as any historian would be quick to point out; an army marches and fights on its stomach…_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2 – From Humble Beginnings**_

"What are they going to do? They have no direction, no leadership, nor even a classroom to call their own. They're helpless, and completely at our mercy. We'll sweep them up at our leisure."

 _Brigadier General Weiss Schnee_

* * *

My stomach grumbled for what was probably the fifteenth time that day, and was promptly echoed by Ren's doing the same. Emaciated and hungry, the two of us didn't so much as stalk the halls as limp and stagger through them. Every now and then we would stop, sniff the air, and then move on in search of sustenance. It had been already been two weeks since the Civil War began, and things were not looking good for us.

 _(Jaune's penchant for exaggeration has always been well-known. It had actually been less than thirty-six hours, but to be fair we were hungry enough that it felt like weeks.)_

The halls of Beacon were empty and dark, the two of us moving through them at four in the morning, the better to dodge the patrols the women had roaming through. We'd slept fitfully the night before, squashed together into a janitor's closet for warmth. Our plan had been to sleep early and move at night, my idea for dodging the enemy. We'd already run into several patrols sent out by the girls, usually six to eight women strong and well-armed and fed. We had our own weapons, of course, and I'd never been so thankful for Beacon's strange lockers. Despite that, two against eight was poor odds, and with me here it was probably more like one and a half against eight. And since if they ever caught us, I'd be making a run for it – it was probably closer to one against eight.

Basically, we were screwed if they found us, hence our choice to hide every time we heard other people. Luckily, Beacon was full of places to slip into, and as part of Ozpin's little game, the locks on all the doors had been opened.

We'd found that out after checking our room with the idea of locking ourselves in it until this whole thing was over. Not only had we come across Nora already there, we'd found the doors all unlocked when we ducked into someone else's dorm to hide.

Either way, the need for food had driven us from our hiding place, and now, like the struggling groups we occasionally passed, we were wandering nomads - refugees from a war torn land, dragging out feet through the halls in desperate search for food. My scroll beeped and I drew it out, yet again ignoring the messages from Pyrrha, Nora and the girls of Team RWBY – all demanding our surrender – and instead looking at the new one sent out by an unknown caller.

" _All you can eat food and drink at the cafeteria. Come and feast, with the only condition being that men lay down their arms and surrender to us. You will be fed and cared for as POW's."_

It was the same message we'd received several times through the day, and I growled as I stuffed the offending thing back into my pockets. Up ahead, Ren's stomach grumbled and he looked at the screen, no doubt wondering if putting himself through Nora's treatment was worth a full stomach.

With a sigh, he too shook his head and trudged on.

"How many do you think have already given up?" Ren asked, picking his way over to a closed door and nudging it open. He poked his head inside before gesturing that it was clear.

Jaune nodded and stepped inside, the two of them spreading out to raid and scavenge the room. I pulled open a drawer and pushed aside frilly underwear, taking a moment to stare at the long, purple, object hidden within, before I sighed and laid it to the side.

I couldn't eat that, and probably wouldn't even if I could.

"No idea," I said. "Some probably have. This whole thing is pretty much over."

Ren agreed with a hum. "I can't imagine how many of us were captured in the cafeteria. Do you think any escaped after you had them charge the doors?"

"Maybe…" I didn't really care, but couldn't say that. "I hope so, but even if they did, it's not like life is any easier out here. Part of me wonders if the people already captured are the real winners. At least they get food."

Our stomachs grumbled in unison once more.

"Yeah, well they don't have to deal with Nora," Ren said. "You can surrender if you want, Jaune. Nora would probably still be after me and let you go."

Oh, I'd definitely considered that – and kept doing so every time one of those evil messages came through. Those cruel monsters had even sent a picture of a beef dinner with the last one, and my mouth watered even now at the thought of it.

It dried soon after as I thought of Pyrrha and Weiss, however. The latter wanted to kill me, while the former… well, I wasn't really sure _what_ Pyrrha wanted, but judging from how weirdly she'd been acting before, I had a feeling I didn't want to find out.

 _(Yet again, you're an idiot Jaune…)_

"I'll stick with you," I said instead. "I'm not leaving you behind, Ren."

"Thank you, Jaune. I appreciate it."

The conversation dwindled soon after, and we returned to ransacking the room, I having given up on the clothes drawers and instead taken to scrabbling around under the beds. It was a complete mess, but then again, whose room wasn't? This one looked like it had three girls and one guy, and judging from what I'd seen already, I felt equal parts jealous and sorry for the guy. All of that was wiped away a second later when I saw a glint of light flicker off a plastic case.

There, at the junction between the bed frame and the wall… I'd definitely seen something. I crawled forward to get a better look and was rewarded for the effort by the discovery of a small chocolate bar barely longer than my hand, and thinner than two fingers. At any other time it would have been a small snack, but right now it felt like I held the answer to life itself in my grip.

But it also came with a damning problem.

 _I could eat this now and Ren would never know. I could save it for later too, and tell him I need the toilet and eat it in a cubicle. I don't technically have to share this…_

The thoughts were pervasive, but I shook them off with a reluctant sigh. Ren was my only companion in this mad world, and also my only hope of survival should anyone find me – be that female patrol or some guys who wanted to shake me down for food. I couldn't have Ren starve and faint, or I'd be screwed.

"I found something," I called, pulling myself out from under the bed.

"Food?"

"Chocolate." I held it up with a small grin, and Ren quickly hopped onto the bed to stare at it. For a second, I feared he might bite it straight out of my hand, but he composed himself quickly. We were both so hungry that I didn't see the point in waiting. The wrapper came open easily, and I made sure to be as meticulous as possible as I snapped it into two pieces.

It wouldn't be good to make it seem like I was short-changing him. We needed one another.

"I never thought I'd feel so relieved to find something like this," Ren said, a content smile on his face as he nibbled on the treat. I did the same, even though I wanted to force it all down at once. It would be gone soon enough, and it was better to savour the taste while it lasted.

Honestly, we were just lucky we could stop at just about any room for water. All the dorms had an en-suite bathroom, and the sinks all worked. If it wasn't for that, the girls could have just parked sentries at all the men's public toilets and captured us there.

"Do you think there's any hope of us actually winning this?" I asked, basking in our tiny victory. "Men against women, I mean. Do you think we've got a shot?"

"We might have had if it was a fair fight. Our two teams are stacked against us, but there are plenty of guys in Beacon, and the older years can fight a lot better than us." Ren sighed and looked forlornly down at the last piece. "The problem is that most of them have already been caught. Right now, we're badly outnumbered."

"So, we don't have a chance."

Ren shrugged and ate the last bit of chocolate. I'd already finished mine a second before. As for the question, well, I supposed it didn't need an answer. I only had to look at my scroll to see that the girls controlled all of the objective markers Ozpin had set up. They were linked to every student through an app, but the guys weren't even trying to defend the points. To be fair, there probably wasn't much hope. The girls would send loads of people there, and they'd be led by their strongest.

I certainly didn't fancy my chances trying to take Yang or Nora off a control point, and doubted anyone else did either.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden scuffling noise off to one side – and still in the dorm we were both inside of. Ren's hand fell to his weapon immediately and the two of us backed away, suddenly aware of the possibility that someone else might be in the room. There were no good options and no allies in this madness. A woman would attack us while a man would try to rob us.

We shared a quick glance, and I nodded to the side, urging Ren to check it out while I held the door. Ostensibly, that was so that I could make sure no one interfered. Realistically, it was so I could run away faster if things looked bad.

 _( . . . )_

Ren reached one hand forward, towards a pile of blankets against one wall. We hadn't noticed it earlier, or if we had we'd dismissed it as some random mess. They were definitely moving, however, and it was getting stronger as Ren moved forward. With a sudden lunge, he grabbed the sheets and tore them away – revealing the danger beneath.

Canine eyes blinked up at us, and a stubby tail wagged.

"Zwei," I gasped, hand falling from my sword as I sagged with relief. Ren held his head with one hand and sighed, storing away his weapons a second later.

"About the only thing in the academy _not_ actively trying to attack us," Ren said. "It's about time we had some luck. What's he doing around this area, though?"

"I'm not sure. There's no way Ruby or Yang would leave him on his own. He's probably just roaming. It's not like the teachers are around to tell them off." The poor thing probably got bored in RWBY's dorm anyway, and not for the first time I wondered how they handled the situation of their secret dog needing to go for a potty break. I ignored the horrifying thoughts and knelt down to stroke his head. "Good boy. Don't tell your owners where we are, okay?"

Zwei nodded once and turned back to something behind him. He gripped it in his mouth and dragged it across the floor and towards the door.

Ren and I stared at it, eyes suddenly wide.

It was a bag of dog food.

Zwei froze at the door, noticing our hungry gazes, and then figuring out what they were aimed towards. The corgi growled around the bag gripped between its teeth. Its hackles rose, eyes narrowing as it backed up just a fraction more.

I swallowed and took a step forwards.

The corgi fled.

We leapt after it.

There was no honour to it, no dignity, but as the two us ran through the halls in pursuit of the small and speedy ball of fluff, none of that mattered. Food, edible food – gross, yes, but filling. With nothing else on offer, it was all we had and we weren't about to let it slip away.

Zwei ducked down a side corridor and we gave chase, never more than ten metres away, even with the little thing ducking under chairs to try and give us the slip. There was a dead end ahead, and the dog ducked into the classroom on the right. I followed and Ren dashed in close behind. With a mighty leap, I flew over Zwei's head and closed the window he'd been headed towards. Trapped between us, the corgi placed the bag down and stood atop it, growling.

"Ruby and Yang will give you more," I said, salivating as I moved a hand towards the bag, then withdrew it when he bit. Ren took his chance and snatched it from behind, then stood atop a desk when Zwei tried to bite his ankles.

"I've got it!" he said.

I cheered. "Tonight, we eat like Kings!"

Zwei whined pitifully at us, which was probably the moment we realised we were fighting a toy-sized dog over a bag of its food. Ren's cheeks flushed and he clambered down off the table. He didn't let go of the food, however. We needed it.

Self-preservation guided my next action… as in the self-preservation that warned me how bad I'd be in for it if Ruby or Yang ever found out I'd stolen food from their dog. I sat down and patted the ground next to me. "We'll share it between the three of us. We're not monsters, Zwei. We just need to eat as well."

Ren seemed to agree, and sat down with me – Zwei doing the same opposite. My friend, whose clothes were tattered and dirty, tore open the bag of kibble and brought out a handful. "Three portions?" he asked.

"Three? I really think that should be seven."

The voice came from our left and the entrance to the classroom. I recognised it instantly, but my eyes still strayed over nonetheless. Cardin stood there, his normally burnished armour dull and dented. His hair hung loose and his smile was feral.

Behind him, his entire team waited.

"Cardin," I greeted, mind whirling for something to say. I didn't harbour any thoughts this might end peacefully – not with Cardin's mace planted against the ground in front of him. The four of them looked far too feral for it, their faces gaunt with hunger and haunted by the terrible things they'd doubtless seen.

"Jauney," the much larger and hungrier man replied. "So good to see you. I couldn't help but notice you've come across some bounty recently."

He nodded to the dog kibble in my hand.

"Me and the boys have been pretty hungry. Times are hard out there. What say you share some with an old friend, hmm?"

I wasn't an idiot, even if I wasn't the smartest tool in class. Cardin wasn't asking for a portion – he wanted the whole bag, and likely whatever else we had on us as well. Hell, he probably wanted Zwei too, as horrible as that sounded.

 _(And I must confess that the thought did cross my mind a little, even if I dispelled it a second later. I make no apologies. Times were hard and Zwei could look like a cow if I squinted my eyes hard enough.)_

"I'll share out some portions," I said. "Then we can go our different ways."

"So soon? I really think we should stay and chat for a little bit." Cardin nodded his head to the side, and his three companions spread out in a wide semi-circle, cutting off our escape. The leader stalked towards us. "I'll bet we all have stories to tell, huh? How about we share them over a nice, friendly meal?"

Ren stood and drew his weapons, and I did the same beside and a little behind him. I didn't like our odds, and with them blocking the exit, I couldn't see a way to escape either.

As much as I hated the idea, it looked like a fight was our only option. I assessed our forces, a tired and exhausted Ren, me, and a dog. It probably said a lot about the situation when I counted Zwei among us, and akin to a huntsman-in-training, but he had teeth, and that probably meant he was tougher than I was.

It still didn't measure up to Team CRDL… but as Cardin lunged forward and the others charged, the chance for strategy was torn out of my hands either way. Crocea Mors came up in time to block a crushing blow to my head, and then I was lost in the melee.

To be frank, I hate fighting against people. I'm not a coward… not when I'm here being a huntsman, and even Weiss will admit I can hold my own against a Beowolf or an Ursa if I have to. Those things aren't so hard, though, and I normally have backup. Grimm charge in the front, and I can use my sword and shield to dispatch them. If things go bad, the team will help me out.

People are different. People are tricky. I parried a blow from Russel's dagger, but was caught in the legs from behind by the butt of Sky's halberd. I fell hard, but managed to reach out and grab Russel by the Mohawk – and he fell with a pained scream atop me. That little cover afforded me was enough to make Sky hesitate, and I was quick to drive my foot up between his leg as thanks. He toppled with an agonised squeal, but I didn't have the time to celebrate. Russel was crawling over me to try and reach something.

A dagger? No, worse – the dog food!

With me down and Ren engaged, not to mention Zwei distracted as he gnawed on Cardin's head, the two rolling across the floor, the prize of the whole fight was left open – and Russel no doubt wanted to take it and run.

I caught his leg before he could and dragged him back, then pressed my hand down on his head and tried to crawl over him instead. If I could get the food and run, Team CRDL would probably ignore Ren and then I could come back for him.

I told myself that, anyway. It helped me feel better. Ren would be fine. He was always fine.

"Get off me!" Russel growled, rolling over and jabbing an elbow into my eye socket. "Come on, man. We just want some grub!"

"Then go surrender at the cafeteria," I hissed, and cuffed the man around the face. My eyes were far higher, focused on the kibble. "We found this. Finders keepers!"

"Spoils of war," Russel argued, but yelped when I bit his hand.

"Get this dog off my head!" Cardin roared, rolling past them struggling with the tiny – but very vicious – corgi.

I knew I'd been right to broker peace with the thing. If the thing could live with Ruby and Yang as its main carers, it was probably hardy enough to survive a bomb, and strong enough to bring down its own food.

The battle raged on around us. Ren fought with Dove, while I struggled with Russel and Cardin did battle with Zwei. Of Sky, there was little sign other than the occasional whimper as he clutched his bruised groin. In all honesty, the fighting was weak and petty – as befit our exhausted hearts and minds. Had Miss Goodwitch been there to see us, she would have wept – or more likely made us weep – for showing such a lack of discipline.

And so lost were we in our struggle that we failed to realise just how much noise we were making. Others did not, and it took a new arrival for our battle to come to an end. The new entrants were eight in number, well-armoured and well-fed, and most importantly…

They were female.

"Well, well, well," the girl in the lead said, holding a sword in one hand. "What do we have here? Six men scrambling over some dog food. Fitting, I suppose."

My heart fell to the floor, and I was so shocked I didn't even feel Russel push me off and pick up his weapon. All thoughts of in-fighting were lost, replaced with nervous fear. Even Zwei let go of Cardin's head and backed away warily.

"Girl scouts…" I breathed.

 _(And not the kind which sold cookies either, unless you wanted them delivered via the tip of a sword. The Girl Scouts were, quite literally, scouts for the female forces, who were tasked not with defending key objectives, but scouting the halls and locating any straggling men, which they would then capture. Even over just a day, they had become a symbol of terror for all men.)_

"We're doomed," Sky breathed, his agony forgotten. "What are we supposed to do? Cardin…?"

"I… I don't know." Cardin ground his teeth together and raised his voice. "Oi, you lot better clear off if you don't want to mess with Team Cardinal!"

At better times the intimidation might have worked… back when Team CRDL looked the part, and when they weren't all clearly hungry, tired and already halfway to defeat. The girls looked between themselves and giggled, while the leader rolled her eyes and held her sword before her.

"Very cute, boys. Truly adorable. Now, since the bluster is out of the way, surrender yourselves to us and we shall see you treat as prisoners should be." Her eyes roved over Ren and I and her smile widened. "And you two…? Oh, there's a bit of a reward for the ones who bring you in. Let's just say there's a pair of redheads waiting for you."

We both shivered at the proof our teammates hadn't forgotten about us. The two of us shared a look, and there was more understanding in it than anything else.

We could not be caught here.

"Prepare to fight," I cried, all bark and no bite. Crocea Mors felt heavy in my hand, and when I held out a hand to help Sky up, he failed to notice how I positioned him in front of me. "If we work together we can take them out."

"Are you mad?" Cardin snapped. "There's eight of them and six of us. Seven of us," he added when Zwei barked angrily. "That's not exactly good odds."

No, and it wasn't about to get any better. I lowered my voice and stepped a little closer to him, whispering in his ear. "I have a plan. Work with me a little."

"Why should we trust you?"

"What other choice do you have? We're doomed either way."

Cardin glowered, but eventually nodded. "Okay. We'll try it your way. What's the idea?"

"You four charge in the front and keep them busy," I said. "Ren and I will loop around the back and spring the trap. They'll never know what hit them."

Mostly because they'd never expect the two of us to book it out the door and away, but hey, it would be a learning experience for everyone. As for the trap, well, that would be Cardin. As in he and his team were going to be the trap which kept the girls busy until they'd dealt with them, all the while Ren and I ran away with our tails tucked between our legs.

To be fair, Team CRDL would be captured and fed. They weren't going to face unspeakable horrors like we were!

Cardin looked me in the eye for a long moment, before he nodded – apparently satisfied with what he found there. His poor judge of character aside, he stomped to the front of his team and roared at the top of his lungs. Bestial as it was, it seemed to inspire confidence in his men, something I'd never been able to do with my own team. Sky, Dove and Russel straightened, a strange gleam coming to their eyes.

The situation was no less hopeless, but their cocky air had returned, and they all drew their weapons.

"Like that'll make a difference," the leader of the Girl Scouts chuckled. "Take them out, ladies!"

The seven women with her charged in, while CRDL rushed to meet them. Ren moved too, but I grabbed his wrist and tugged him to the side instead. "Leave them," I hissed. "We have to get around to the other side."

"You have a plan?"

"I do."

Escape, run, and feel bad about it later, roughly in that order. I made sure to grab Zwei as well, mostly because if we did run into Ruby and Yang, my good treatment of their pet might get me out of a beating. He, meanwhile, made sure to grab the bag of dog treats.

We ran around the left flank of the melee, which had turned into a mad whirl of steel and flesh, as weapons battered against aura and people were knocked left and right. For all his exhaustion, Cardin waded through the battle like a giant, one girl clung to his left arm and another with her entire body wrapped around his neck. They were going to drag him down in time, however. Unless we intervened, that was.

So, basically, he was going to be dragged down. It was a shame, but that was life. The world was one of bloody evolution, and unfortunately for Cardin, he'd evolved with a penis – which meant he'd come out on the wrong side of this war.

So had I, sadly, and it was proven even more true as the last woman, the apparent leader, dove in front of us, cutting off the exit.

"Where do you think you're going? You two are the main prize here. There's a promotion in store for whoever brings you in." She let out a sigh and clenched her hands together. "Finally, I can get an easy job defending one of the objective points. I can't believe I have to wander around school attacking desperate idiots."

"Split up," I hissed, pushing Ren to the left as I went right and Zwei ran down the centre. She couldn't catch all of us at once, and I could only hope Ren would come back for me if he slipped by her.

The girl froze as her target became three, and then two as Zwei rushed between her legs. She hesitated in Ren's direction, and then moved in mine. Perhaps she sensed the weaker threat, or maybe she thought I was the leader since I was doing the most talking. Either way, it was bad news for me.

I hopped away from her sword, coincidentally landing atop a desk pressed up against the side of the classroom. She growled and lunged after me, and I clambered higher up the stacked chairs to get away. _Come on, Ren,_ I begged. _I'm keeping her busy. Knock her out or something!_ Unfortunately for me, Ren was nowhere to be seen.

 _(I'd actually been engaged by another Girl Scout, not that Jaune noticed. As ever, his attention was fixed upon himself and his immediate surroundings.)_

"End of the line," the leader taunted as I reached the top of the stacked chairs. It wobbled precariously, but I managed to wedge myself between it and one of the roof tiles. "Are you going to keep running or are you ready to fight?"

"I was going to keep running, honestly," I said. Maybe if I pushed the roof tile up, I could slip up there and sneak out? No, those were probably solid, and I was too heavy. I'd fall back through the roof.

Hm, would she be distracted if I took my trousers off and threw them at her?

I was desperate. Sue me.

A yelp escaped me as the girl leapt up onto the side and started to scale towards me. She waved her sword once to try and push me off, and I flicked Crocea Mors against it. She growled and pulled herself higher, while I crawled to the other side and tried to find a way to jump off. Trapped against the wall, however, I had no options, and she was about to catch me.

"Got you," she crowed, hands appearing over the edge. She grabbed my ankle before I could kick her, and disarmed me with a casual cut from her thin sword. She was at least a second or third year, and much stronger than me. "Now it's time for you to come with me an-"

She paused.

I froze.

The world beneath us teetered precariously. My eyes trailed down at roughly the same time hers did. The stack of chairs we were both now clinging to swayed away from the wall, rocking back and forth as our added weight overbalanced it. I clamped down on mine, eyes wide and teeth clenched together.

She desperately tried to do the same, but the sudden movement proved her undoing – and with a horrible crack, the chair at the bottom broke.

It was like riding an avalanche.

Or, at least, that's what I imagine it was like. The stack of chairs fell and spilled outwards, toppling over the girl and pinning her to the floor, even as fifty or so more surged over the battlefield and struck the melee from behind. One girl barely had the time to cry out a warning before I hit her, and to be honest she should have heard my panicked cries first. She went down hard, and I was propelled over their heads as my chair cracked.

I landed hard and rolled to a stop, my back on fire and just about everything hurting. Worse, I'd somehow managed to end up back on the wrong side of the fight – away from my escape. _No, I'm done. Screw it. I give up. Take me now and let Pyrrha and Nora do whatever they want. I'm just done._

"It's the signal!" Cardin cried. "Push them back!"

Wait, what?

The roar from Team CRDL drowned out all other noise, and I watched in awe as they pushed forward and actually started to take control of the fight. The numbers against them had dwindled from seven to three, and it looked like at least two of the women – not including the leader – had actually been pinned under the fallen chairs, and were even now trying to get back out.

Cardin and his team took full advantage of that. Notions of gentlemanly nature and care were forgotten, and they struck their foes unconscious as quickly as they could. It only took a minute or two, but it felt like longer as I watched.

It wasn't until Ren dispatched his opponent that I realised what had just happened.

Cardin realised it too, and stared down at his hands.

"We… We won…" he whispered. "We defeated them."

"We need to get out of here," Sky said. "We made way too much noise. People will be coming."

The others agreed and quickly rushed to the door, but something else had caught my eye. One of the girls had fallen on her side and something had spilled out of her pocket. It was a packet of beef jerky, and my mouth watered at the sight of it.

"Food!" I cried.

It stopped the others dead, and they turned in time to see me looting one of the girls. She had beef jerky, some grain bars, and also what looked like sandwiches carefully wrapped in tin foil. Compared to the dog food we'd been about to eat, it was the greatest luxury.

"He's right," Cardin hissed. "Guys, quick, loot them of all the food and valuables we can!"

"What should we do with them?"

"Nothing, there's nowhere we can keep them if we take them prisoner. Just take the food and we'll get out of here." Cardin jogged over and gripped me by the arm, hauling me up. "You saved us," he whispered. "Your plan worked!"

My plan…?

Oh hell, the plan.

"Heh heh… uh, yeah… I guess it did."

/-/

It was ten or fifteen minutes later when we found ourselves in an altogether different room, some third year dorm we'd taken over. It was far enough away from the last classroom that we wouldn't be found, and the trek here had been a terrifying one, us carrying more food than we'd seen in ages. If anyone had seen us, we would have been attacked for sure, but luck was on our side and we made it through unharmed.

The food we'd stolen was now amassed on the bed before us, though it had been split into six small piles put before each person. All of that had been done in silence, but it wasn't a comfortable one. Had it been just Ren and I, or just Team CRDL, then it probably would have been such. Sadly, we were still technically enemies, and without a common cause to unify us, the atmosphere was tense. Up until now, the lingering adrenaline had been enough to keep everyone subdued. The moment ended when Cardin stood and approached me.

I stood opposite him and tried to look as confident as I could. I probably failed, but it was worth a shot.

"What happened back there…" Cardin paused. "Since the war began, there hasn't been a single report of a male force being any female one. The Girl Scouts have been unchallenged."

 _(This was true, but we would later realise it was because no one had tried. The men were so scattered, that there was never a chance for them to win.)_

"You, however," he went on. "You managed it. We actually won. I have no idea how, but…" He trailed off, and stared at me with an unreadable expression. "Was that your plan all along?"

No, of course not, but I couldn't very well tell him I'd planned to run off and abandon him. I shrugged instead, eyes glancing to the side as I waved one hand in the air. "Pretty much," I said, taking the undeserved credit in full. "There was no way we were going to win a fair fight, but I figured they'd be so overconfident they wouldn't think to use any strategy."

"They're too used to fighting Grimm," Cardin said. "It didn't occur to them to treat us like anything different and… and maybe I've done the same." He looked down at his hand. When his eyes flickered back to mine they were harder, sharper, and somehow more resolute. "You led us to victory," he said. "You've achieved what no other man has. You gave us victory. You gave us food…" He gestured to the pile of food on the bed. "But more than that, you've given us our dignity."

We all looked to Zwei, happily munching on his dog food – and once again thanked our stars we wouldn't be doing the same.

"I don't know how you did it, Arc, but ever since this started, we've been lost. I did my best to keep us together but I never managed to provide for us like this. There's food enough here for a full day. That's… that's probably more food than any guy in Beacon has right now."

"It wouldn't have been possible without you four," I said, partly because it sounded like it was expected, but also because I wanted to make it clear exactly how much I didn't want to fight with them. "You guys did most of the fighting, so-"

"No." Cardin shook his head. "We may have fought, but it was you who led us to victory."

Before my eyes, the armoured man knelt.

"I, Cardin Winchester, do pledge my allegiance to Jaune Arc."

W-What…?

"I, Sky Lark-"

"I, Russel Thrush-"

"I, Dove Bronzewing…"

The four of them were on their knees before me. They'd formed a semi-circle with Cardin at the head, and each of theirs was bowed towards the floor, one hand on raised knee as they pledged their loyalty to me.

Me! Of all the people!

"To he who shall lead us to better times," Cardin declared. "Our swords are yours to wield, our armour is yours to defend, and we shall go where you command. Lead us, and allow us to reclaim our rightful place!"

Reclaim…? They wanted me to fight against the girls? Ha ha, no way. No chance. Nuh-uh. That wasn't happening. Not in a million years. There were six of us here, and it would probably take at least ten times that number to even have a chance.

That said… there was safety in numbers, wasn't there? My instinctive desire to turn them away was quickly squashed down as I realised just how much easier it would be to look for food if there were more of us. Sure, we'd draw more attention, but if push came to shove, Ren and I could just abandon them again and go back to just the two of us.

Team CRDL could be muscle, meat shield and distraction all in one… and if we could take out other teams of Girl Scouts, then we'd be set to last out until the War ended altogether. All I'd need to do was pretend to be their leader and keep them away from battle. We could say we were building up our forces, but the whole war would end in five days anyway.

We just needed to stay in one piece until then.

"I accept your allegiance," I called, hoping I didn't sound quite too dismissive or uncertain about it all. "Rise now. We've worked hard today, and now we should celebrate. There's food aplenty, and we're safe here."

"Not that's an idea I can get behind," Russel laughed. The four rose, and it suddenly felt like any and all animosity between them and us was gone. No longer were we Team CRDL and half of Team JNPR. We were something else. We were similar. We were men.

I also noticed that the pile of food put before me was bigger than theirs. Cardin looked at it enviously, but made no complaint. I'd been given the best of it all, which looked to include homemade bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches that made my mouth water.

I wanted it all to myself, I really did.

They were the ones who were going to be doing most of the fighting, however. If they were weak from lack of food, they wouldn't be able to hold the ground, and without my meat shields, I'd be stuck having to fight again. It would be in my best interests to keep them happy and well-fed. They'd need the energy, after all. They were going to have to pull my weight.

With a shake of my head, I reluctantly broke one of the sandwiches into two.

* * *

 _And did He take the bread in hand and shake his head. In two He broke it, and then two again, until His food was shared with all of His disciples. No words did He speak, but His message was clear. Together we would suffer, together we would struggle, and together we would survive._

 _As we, His first, shared that fateful meal, I wondered if it were that He knew just what He had wrought. For in that moment when He delivered us victory, He won over our minds. In the time moments before, when He secured for us victuals, He won over our stomachs._

 _But when He, our Lord, declared that He would suffer with us…?_

 _He won over our hearts and souls._

 **/-/ High Priest Russel Thrush /-/**

 **Verse 21**

 **The Book of Jaune**

* * *

 **Oh my… You know, reading back over Sandy Mitchell's work with an eye for the detail is strange and amusing. In a way, excerpts like the one at the top of this chapter where Ren (or Amberly) has someone explain the situation… these could be seen as telling, which is sort of a no-no in writing. You always want to show instead of tell, and it would have been easy to have Cain (or Jaune) show the knowledge of what happened after the cafeteria fight by discussing it with Ren.**

 **However, by having a "tell" in this sense, it actually becomes a "show", because it's an in-universe tell which shows us just how self-centred Cain (or Jaune) is. They don't bother to find out about the bigger picture because they just don't care, and that is shown by how Amberly (Ren) has to go and find someone else to explain it for you.**

 **It's weird, but it just kind of works. It's the proof of pudding in a sense, because Ren can say Jaune "doesn't really care about outside knowledge" but that would be a tell. Instead, we show it by having Jaune just never bother to try and find out.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 29** **th** **September**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter. No excerpts this time, as those mostly appear when there is something that needs to be shown or explained. Without getting into a discussion on `would they, wouldn't they`, in response to the occasional review whining that this `wouldn't happen because the students aren't this violent`, I'd point out that a) it's fiction, b) it's a training initiative, and these** _ **do**_ **happen in some military organisations, and c) the characters in the show actually** _ **did**_ **show this level of `losing themselves` to fantasy before – namely in the food fight, where they smacked each other with melons, fought, destroyed scenery, and generally all got really involved in a silly fight. During that, they** _ **acted**_ **like it was life or death, too.**

 **I'm not saying they were trying to hurt each other, but my point is that they can be kids, and they can let loose and go a bit crazy at times. It doesn't mean they hate one another afterwards, and it doesn't mean that `team trust will be destroyed` after this entirely fictional fanfic – as the occasional drama queen has suggested.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3 – The Makings of a Tribe**_

"Don't be stupid. It would take a person of unparalleled charisma, courage and leadership to unite the scattered tribes. Who among them has all three? Vomit-boy!? Pft, yeah, right. Pull the other one."

 _Yang Xiao-Long, Captain of the Dragoons_

* * *

Not for the first time, nor for the last, I had no idea what I was doing. It wasn't exactly a new state of being, since I'd basically been that way since I tricked my way into Beacon, but this one was a little more worrying because I didn't have Pyrrha, also known as the best partner ever, to drag me out of every little problem I got myself into. Ren tried, he really did, but it wasn't the same.

He couldn't slaughter entire teams without breaking a sweat, after all.

 _(Excuse me for that…)_

The problem I faced wasn't so much a combative one as a planning issue, however, not that it made much of a difference. I was crap at that, too. At that moment, I sat upon a chair that was balanced on a table, giving me a height advantage as I looked down at a crudely drawn map of Beacon that Russel had made. It was about as detailed as one of Ruby's excuses for why she was late to class, and equally as effective. I could only tell the cafeteria was in the middle because there was a big picture of a cake on it.

Cardin and Ren knelt by the map, while the other members of Team CRDL, or my own personal retinue, I suppose, were busy fortifying the small room we'd claimed as our own. It was a tiny classroom I'd never seen before. I could only imagine it served for classes for later years, and probably some elective courses with less students. Either way, it had no windows and was out of the way, which made it perfect for our purposes. I.e. hide away and never face any trouble until the whole thing blew over.

Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to be reading from the same page on that.

"There isn't a male force at the moment," Cardin said, addressing both Ren and myself. "It's little more than scattered groups spread out across Beacon. Most of them keep moving to avoid capture and to try and find what food they can."

"They're like nomads," Ren mused, one hand under his chin. "They seek a home but there is none available. I wonder if we could use that in some way."

"My thoughts exactly." Cardin stabbed a finger down onto the map. "If we can set up a decent-sized base and make a name for ourselves, we might be able to count on those nomads seeking us out for protection. We could bolster our own forces, and the bigger we get, the more attractive we'll be. We'll be able to build an army!"

"And then what?" I asked. I had a sinking feeling I already knew the answer, but dared to be optimistic.

"Then you can take the fight to the enemy," Cardin cried, slamming his fist down on the cafeteria, the bastion of the feminine empire. "You will lead us to victory and we will reclaim what is ours. We will push them back, feed the hungry, and bring hope to our gender!"

Russel, Sky and Dove cheered happily.

I cheered, too, and hoped they didn't notice how similar to a whimper it sounded. Yep, that was exactly what I'd been afraid of. Cardin thought me some tactical genius that was going to be able to give them victory over the girls. I knew better, of course. It would take more than strategy to even the odds against people like Pyrrha and Yang.

The problem was that I couldn't say that. If I backed out now, or gave CRDL reason to believe they couldn't trust me, then our little alliance would fall to pieces. Ren and I would be back on our own, and Cardin would definitely take all the food we'd collected with him. We wouldn't be able to stop him. I didn't want to go back to being hungry. My stomach rumbled at the very thought of it, waking Zwei up from his place in my lap.

"Sorry, boy," I whispered, stroking him gently. He huffed and went back to sleep, leaving me to provide an answer to Cardin, who was looking up at me with a terrifying mixture of awe, adulation and battle lust on his face. "Don't you think that might draw the girl's attention?" I asked. "We'd need to make it obvious where to find us or the nomadic tribes wouldn't be able to, but if we're obvious then we'll be letting the girls know, too."

"You're right," Cardin said, earning a breath of relief from Jaune. "I hadn't thought of that. I suppose that's why you're the boss."

 _(Suffice to say, even with Jaune's self-perceived cowardice, his caution still was a valuable asset to our survival. It allowed us, at the very least, to temper some of Cardin's more aggressive suggestions.)_

"I don't think it's a bad idea, though," Ren said. "Not the idea itself at any rate. Instead of passively drawing the desperate into our midst, however, we should perhaps focus on finding and convincing others to join us."

Oh, come on, Ren. Not you, too! I leaned forward to cut that idea off before it could start, but Cardin beat me to it.

"Perfect!" he barked. "Jaune can unite the tribes against the female host. Once people start to hear of someone bringing the scattered tribes together, they'll seek us out. This should let us stay relatively hidden early on though, and the girls won't figure out what's happening until later. By that time, we should have a force capable of holding our own." His eyes lit up. "Maybe even of taking the fight to them! Isn't that great?" Cardin asked, smiling fanatically at him.

"Y-Yeah," I replied back miserably. "I can't wait."

The two continued to plan and I continued to pretend to listen in, all the while thinking about the situation in my head. What they wanted me to do and what I was going to do were two very different things, but the actual idea of banding together with another tribe wasn't necessarily a bad one. More people meant more protection, and maybe even a way to gather more food. When they inevitably refused to let me take control, we could become a part of their group and I'd be free from this whole mess.

The actual act of _trying_ to unite the tribes shouldn't be dangerous at all. If anything, it was a diplomatic sort of things that would probably involve a lot of sneaking around Beacon and staying out of the girls' eyes.

 _Well, better that than going back to what Ren and I had before. At least this way we have the food we stole from those Girl Scouts._

"Alright," I surrendered. "We'll give it a go."

It was better than taking the fight straight to the women.

/-/

The first group we came across was about what I expected. A ruined room with overturned beds and sheets flung about. It didn't so much look like a battle had been waged in the tiny dorm, but rather a full-blown war with numerous campaigns. The fact that the group of three guys we'd heard about being here weren't around spoke of who won. I hovered at the entrance, anxiously looking down the corridor, while Ren entered with Russel in tow. The safety of our classroom gone, the bravado that had overtaken them was gone, and we were all nervous.

"This is recent," Ren said, inspecting something only he could see – perhaps footprints, or some food crushed into the carpet.

"How recent?" Cardin asked.

"No older than twenty-four hours. That's as much as I can say."

Cardin hummed but didn't say anymore. A day wasn't really much to go on, not when the whole war itself had only been going for two now. Either way, it didn't look like the guys we'd been here for were still around. Whatever had taken them was gone as well.

"Do you think it was the Girl Scouts?" Russel asked quietly. In the silence we were trying to keep, his voice seemed to echo.

"They attack people they see wandering around, but I doubt they'd hunt people down." Dove slid into the room and looked around, his eyes narrowed. "This doesn't feel like them. I mean, the message we got said these guys were locked up in their room, right? Since when do Girl Scouts break the door down?"

"The doors are unlocked, remember?"

"Same story," he said. "Girl Scouts don't attack defended positions. It's a pointless risk for them."

No one argued, but we all knew why. There was no reason for them to risk themselves when they were already winning handily. The Girl Scouts just patrolled set areas and picked up any guys that stumbled upon them. They'd probably only found us because of the amount of noise we'd made.

"This could be something else," Sky whispered. "I've heard stories of shadowed monsters striking in the night."

"Grimm?" I asked, suddenly nervous.

"No, worse. Women."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Women who move like smoke and who can cover the Academy in less than an hour, who spread across the halls like shadow itself, striking and destroying any who dare-"

"Rumours," Cardin spat. "Those are nothing but rumours!"

"Y-Yeah, Sky," Russel laughed. "You've been spending too much time on the forums."

 _(The Beacon Forums were, as they sound, a collection of topics and posts between students in the Academy, and had existed long before we even came to the school. Normally, they'd be filled with general chatter, or offers of help with homework traded for a sparring partner, or even just notices to let people know if a specific event was coming up, or if lessons were cancelled. Everyone in Beacon used it at some point or another.)_

"Those are still up?" I asked. I wasn't sure why I was surprised, but I was. I hadn't thought to use my scroll for anything other than checking the time, but since the girls were busy sending out propaganda to make us hungry, it technically meant we still had all the usual functions. I pulled mine out and accessed them, and quickly realised the forum had gotten just as involved in the war as everything else.

For starters, the female propaganda continued there, which was kind of impressive, really. They were definitely going all-out on that front. I wondered whose idea that was, and was flicking between the idea of Weiss or Blake. A little further looking showed that there actually were posts from guys too, however. There was no keeping them hidden from the girls, but there were little things like people warning where they'd seen Girl Scouts, or comments about what areas definitely didn't have any food in them.

Beyond that, there was also a section dedicated to those who had fallen, and it was that Sky directed me to.

"It's about knowing your enemy," he said. "The Girl Scouts have taken out a load of people, but they're just scouts, not even the main force. There are bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?"

"The Valkyries for one…"

I shivered instinctively at the name, and I wasn't the only one. Ren had a haunted look on his face, and there wasn't a shred of doubt in either of us as to who might be in charge of _that_ unit.

"They're the Shock Troopers for their forces," Sky explained. "Wherever they go, men fall. If we run into them, our only chance is to run for our lives."

"Do you think this is their work?" Dove asked.

Ren shook his head. "No. Nora wasn't here."

"How can you tell?"

"I know my partner. There's not enough property damage."

There was a pregnant pause as we all considered that. Well, he was right. She'd have torn the room to shreds if she were involved. At the very least there would be scorch and burn marks on the floor, and the sheets would be in tatters.

"If not her, then who?" I asked.

"And why," Ren added.

"I told you, it's the Ninjas of Lo-"

"Those don't exist, Sky," Cardin repeated. "They're nothing but a myth. A rumour spread by the women to frighten us. It'll only work if you believe it. Ren is right. Instead of inventing enemies, we should focus on figuring out why this is happening and what it means for us."

"Does it mean anything?" I asked, kicking aside a discarded shoe. "These guys got found out and they sent someone to capture them. It's not unusual."

Sure, it was a shame they'd been caught before our group could chat with them, but that felt more like bad luck than anything. Or good luck, depending on how you looked at it. I'd rather they got caught before we arrived than while we were there.

"I think this was a targeted move," Ren whispered, eyes scanning the room warily. "More than that, I think it was us they wanted to catch. They know we're out there and they know what our plan is."

"Already, your name is instilling panic in the enemy." Cardin boasted. "They've moved against us, terrified of what it might mean if we're left free." He threw back his head and laughed, not at all giving such an idea the fear it deserved.

"How would they be onto us already? That makes no sense." I crossed my arms to ward off the instinctive spike of panic I felt. There was no need for it. We were completely safe. "The girls don't even know what we're doing; let alone what it might mean in the long run. There's no way they'd be chasing after us."

"Well we _did_ take out one of their patrols," Ren pointed out.

"True," I allowed, "But that's not enough to warrant a response like this!"

"You also taunted them," Sky said. "I mean, did you really think they were going to sit still after the stuff you said?"

"I did what?" My eyes narrowed. "What stuff?"

Sky moved over to point out a specific topic, hidden at the top, and with plenty of people watching it. It seemed to be a general one for all purposes of the war, but there had been a flurry of activity in the last few hours. When I saw why, it was all I could do to stare at Cardin.

"Well," he explained, "We _did_ need a way to find some of the other men. How do you think we knew where to meet these ones?"

"Looks like a spy passed the message on," Ren said. "I imagine there are plenty of captured men who would give over their account details for some food, freedom, or maybe their girlfriend. One must have sent these guys a private message and tricked them into giving up their location." He gestured to the chaos. "And the girls struck."

"More proof they're afraid," Cardin said, punctuating his words by slamming a fist into his open palm. "We have them running afraid and doing everything they can to stop us. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," I groaned. "Great."

My eyes were still glued to the final message, a message which had been posted by a user known as `The Chosen One`. Beside it was my face, grinning stupidly.

" _Going to unite the tribes, and lead them against the women, lol. Who's joining me?"_

And beneath it, posted by Yang, a simple message.

" _Good luck with that."_

That didn't bode well…

/-/

It took us another three hours or so to find another group of guys, and only because Cardin was busy pretending to be me on the forums. I'd wanted to cut that off, but the damage was already done so it didn't matter. I'd become a wanted figure overnight, and all thanks to a single ill-thought comment. It didn't help that a lot of guys were already throwing their support behind the idea.

The idea, that was. Not me. My reputation was too well-known for people to think following me was a good idea. I always wondered why Cardin and his team seemed to have forgotten that.

Regardless, we didn't so much find the first group of guys as they did us. A personal message hit Cardin's scroll, and he alerted us to the fact we were near a small group of men operating under a local tribal chief.

"Tribal chief…?" I asked, just to make sure I'd heard correctly. "Cardin, you realise that was just a metaphor, right? We're not actually tribes."

"That's what it says on his post. I'm just reading it off."

 _(Although the title may have seemed rather foolish, it's important to note that morale was at an all-time low among the men. Titles like this, pointless as they may have seemed, helped to instil trust and confidence in a time when it was needed most. In time, Jaune would come to gain many of his own, but that is perhaps jumping ahead.)_

I could feel a headache coming on, and desperately wished we were back in our classroom gorging on stolen sandwiches and chocolate bars. Those wouldn't last, however, nor would the team I'd surrounded myself with if I didn't do this. Plus, if Cardin really had gone and sicced all the girls onto me, then I needed protection.

The kind of protection that could only be achieved by surrounding myself with as many bodies as possible. I'd build a wall to keep them out! A wall built of hopes, dreams, and as many disposable people as I could get a hold of.

"Let's go meet this chieftain, then. I'll see what I can do."

"You'll bring them to our side," Russel said. "I just know it."

"I _said_ I'll see what I can do."

"This is the beginning. The start of our revolution!"

There was no arguing with them when they were like that so I didn't bother. We must have made for a strange group as we headed through the halls, myself in the lead and five others trailing behind, fanning out in a V formation that made me look far more important than I had any right to. Our host's domain was indicated by several totems arranged in the corridors as we closed in, namely men's boxer shorts hung from door knobs and low ceiling lights. I wasn't sure if they were meant to ward off women, but I couldn't imagine Yang being _too_ afraid of touching them if she thought a good fight was on the other side.

Eventually, we reached what Cardin assured me was the chieftain's headquarters. It was a woman's bathroom.

I felt a little disappointed at that, I'll admit.

"Hiding where the enemy would never think to look," Cardin said. "Impressive…"

 _Yeah, never think to look until they need a piss and discover it by accident,_ I didn't bother to say. Instead, I stepped under the archway, rolling my eyes as the others hesitated, afraid to enter what few men had before. Two men met us halfway. One was dark-skinned and wiry, the other a bulkier fellow with suspicious eyes set in a pale face. They looked me up and down, and neither seemed particularly impressed.

"You're the guy?" the pale one said. "You think you're going to be the one to unite everyone and bring us to battle against the girls? You think you can manage that?"

No.

"Yes."

"Tch," he spat to the side, into one of the sinks. If he meant it as a rude show of defiance, it failed. "Why should our boss meet with you? He brought us together, found us a home, and protects us even now. Why should we follow you instead of him? Maybe he'll be the one to unite everyone."

I rolled my eyes at what was fairly obvious intimidation and nodded for Ren to step forward. The two tensed, but quickly calmed down – and then started to salivate – when Ren opened a small pouch to reveal a pile of candy.

"It's a gift for your Chieftain," I said, pleased to finally have their attention. It had been my idea, based on memories of the best way to get my sister's attention when I needed it. There wasn't much they wouldn't do for chocolate.

"W-We'll take you to him. Can we…?"

I picked out a small, wrapped piece of chocolate and tossed it to him, and then one for his friend as well. They caught them quickly and swallowed them in one, barely pausing to remove the plastic. They groaned happily as they ate, bodies shaking.

A small bit of charity could go a long way, or so my Dad had often told me. I wasn't sure this counted as such, more of a bribe, but it certainly replaced their surly expressions with far more welcoming ones.

"Come on, come on. I'll introduce you." The pale man with a wide smile and chocolate-stained lips threw an arm around my shoulder and led me deeper into the restroom. "Bring your friends too. You're all welcome."

There wasn't much to their lair to describe. It was a bathroom in a school, which was to say it had tiled floors and walls, six sinks, six cubicles and some hand dryers. There were a few mattresses laid about, with sheets taken from nearby rooms, but for the most part it looked like they wanted to keep a low profile. That was probably why they'd survived as long as they had, really.

And there, against one wall, whispering into the ear of someone knelt nearby, was the leader of this rag-tag tribe of outcasts. His huge frame bulged with muscle, and he cut an intimidating sight, even sat in a corner of a woman's bathroom. His head rose when he heard them, and he smiled kindly as he stood.

"Welcome travellers. My name is Yatsuhashi Daichi, elected leader of the small group you see before you." He bowed from the waist. "It is an honour to meet fellow free-men. There are few of us that still remain."

"Uh, yeah." I tried to mimic the bow, but it didn't come off as well as I'd have liked. "Likewise. You're from Team CFVY, right? Velvet's team."

"I am, yes." The giant of a man sighed and slowly lowered himself back down onto his throne – which was, in fact, a toilet. "In the early panic of the war's outbreak, I sought to meet with my team, and Coco assured me we would stick together and not be driven apart by some silly game the headmaster plays. I trusted her, as any would their team leader."

I coughed awkwardly and looked around the bathroom. "I can see how that went."

"Indeed. It was not my wisest decision. My sword was stolen from me, Fox captured, and it was only by the grace of several men storming the main entrance that I was able to escape. In the chaos, they created a distraction."

He meant the distraction I'd caused when I convinced those guys to charge Coco so Ren and I could get away. Well, it was nice to know someone else had benefitted.

"Enough of pleasantries," Yatsuhashi said. "I know why you are here, Jaune of Arc. You seek to unite the tribes."

"Of Arc?" I echoed, vaguely confused.

"Your goals are just, but I fear idealism has clouded your mind," he continued, ignoring my question. "There has been no shortage of men like you; the forums are filled with them. While uniting is a worthy goal and might allow us to strike back, the logistics of such a move are not quite so simple. Have you given any thought to where we might gather, or how we would build supplies?"

Considering I'd been forced into this with no warning and no real motivation? No, not really.

"Then there is the issue of female reprisal. So far, they have remained somewhat passive in their approach, likely a sign of mercy since they are already sure to win this war. So long as we remain out of their way, we are allowed to exist. If we make ourselves targets, however…"

Then we'd be taken out like the guys we'd tried to meet with earlier. In fact, thanks to what Cardin had gotten up to under my name on the forums, it looked like we were targets already. There went the option of chilling out and letting the War Games pass without lifting a finger.

"Forgive me, Jaune," Yatsuhashi said. "You must wonder why I would invite you to meet with me if my intention was to reject your offer from the start."

"I did wonder," I lied. In truth, I'd not even thought about it all. Too busy focusing on my own survival, and wondering how I was going to get out of this mess in one piece. "But first of all, we came with some gifts."

Ren stepped forward with a small nod and presented the food we'd brought to Yatsuhashi. The large man's face lit up and he accepted it with a smile. He was a better man than I was, at least in terms of self-control, because instead of tearing into them, he split the pile equally and handed it out to his followers. For himself, he took only the smallest of chocolate bars, and even then, put it away for later.

"I thank you, Jaune. Times have been difficult for us. Rest assured that we will not forget this. How did you come across such bounty?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Russel interrupted before I could.

"He took them from a team of Girl Scouts," the mohawk-wearing teen said proudly. "We were ambushed by them back when we were still enemies, but he brought us together, made us fight as one, and even led us to victory over the _eight_ girls."

Yatsuhashi's tribe murmured between themselves. Many seemed awed, while some clearly didn't believe the story at all; the mere idea of any men beating the girls just about impossible. The food was hard to argue against, however. Where else would we have found so much?

"I'd heard rumours, but I thought it just that," Yatsuhashi said.

"It's no rumour. Without Jaune, we'd still be no better than staving bandits stealing from our fellow man to eat. He made us into something better. He gave us back our pride!"

"That's enough, Russel," I said, cringing. I really didn't deserve such awe.

"I can sense no dishonesty in his words. You have brought an impressive victory to your people, and also inspired them to greatness." Yatsuhashi sighed. "It is admirable, I will freely say, but I do not believe it will be enough to win this war. I am sorry, Jaune of Arc. I cannot risk my people's freedom by choosing to follow you. If it were myself alone, then perhaps… but that is not the case."

It was a no, then. That was fine. I swallowed what little disappointment I felt, but to be honest I was more relieved that I cared to admit. Yatsuhashi's view wasn't exactly the wrong one. Honestly, it was what I wanted to make. More than that, I could respect him for it – and this hadn't left me looking bad in front of Team CRDL, either. I'd tried to unite this tribe with mine, but it failed. Oh well, time to try another, and then keep trying until the five days were over and I could go back to Team JNPR and forget this ever happened.

Nice and simple. No risks involved.

Or so I wished.

"He can beat them!" Sky pushed past me and threw an arm wide, shouting at the top of his voice. "Jaune can beat the women. He can deliver us to victory!"

"Sky," I hissed.

He ignored me.

"Look at what he did with us. We're not the strongest team. We're just first years. If he can lead us to win against the Scouts, then think what he could do with a real army!"

"It's fine, Sky. He's already said no." I tried to pull him back, but was knocked off balance as yet _another_ person pushed by me.

"Sky is right," Dove said, moving to stand beside his partner. "If you guys just want to sit here and hide in the toilets for the whole week, then fine. Don't come crying to us when you get found out and captured. Or worse, do you want to look back on this after the fact and think how you hid away like cowards while other men fought for their freedom? Is that how far your honour goes? Are you men or mice!?"

Yatsuhashi sighed. "I have to think of what is best for my people."

"Cowering in a toilet is what's best? Why not surrender? It's probably just as bad!"

"Stop, stop!" I pushed the two aside and strode though them, waving my arms in an attempt to calm everyone down before something altogether worse happened. Already, Yatsuhashi's people looked offended, and now I was throwing myself in front of them.

Better that then get stuck into a fight, I supposed. I was used to dealing with anger and difficult conversation. I'd been flirting with Weiss for months now. It was normal.

"No one is calling anyone a coward. Yatsuhashi, I'm sorry for what they said. Please don't take it seriously."

"What was said was spoken in the heat of the moment," the gentle giant said, calming his forces with an easy smile. "I take no offence. If anything, it speaks of the faith and belief they have in you, and your ability to inspire it."

No, it really didn't. It spoke of Team CRDL's idiocy.

"You must understand, however," he went on. "We have nothing to base our own belief on. We have no proof of your abilities, and no reason to trust that you can lead us to victory and not an inglorious defeat."

"I get it, it's fine. I wouldn't risk my life on a wild chance, either-"

"Then he'll prove himself to you!" Cardin declared. "If it's proof you want, he can deliver."

Wait, what?

"Proof?" Yatsuhashi rubbed his chin. "I'll admit that isn't an angle I thought of. You wish for me to set a challenge?"

"Yes. That's right."

"Cardin, wait-" I tried to grab his arm, but the taller man had already stepped forward, sweeping an arm before him.

"He can handle whatever you set forth, but you have to join us afterwards."

"If he completes it."

" _When_ he completes it."

"Or, alternatively-" I said, only to get interrupted. Yatsuhashi pushed off his porcelain throne and stood tall.

"Very well," he said. "You have spoken, Jaune of Arc. We shall see how fit you prove yourself to be."

 _I haven't bloody spoken at all, you moron!_ _That's exactly what you're NOT letting me do._ I groaned to myself but kept my mouth shut. It was done now. I couldn't back out without everyone seeing me as a failure. Ren touched my arm and nodded in what he probably thought was support. It didn't help much. I wanted to smash my head against the nearest wall, but instead settled for sticking a panicked smile to my face – like this had somehow been my idea all along.

"My men have need of two things," Yatsuhashi said. "Food, and medical supplies. I care not which you choose to provide, but if you can bring me enough medicine to treat them should we be hurt, or enough food to feed the eight of us for two days, I will take that as proof you are able to adequately support and provide for us, and I shall pledge my support to your cause."

Food and medicine, huh? The cafeteria was out of bounds since it had been taken over at the start of the war, but I could recall the infirmary being declared a neutral zone. Maybe we could go there and get something from Tsune. I had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

"Do this, Jaune Arc, and you shall have what you seek."

With a nod, I turned away, marching out of the bathroom with my retinue in tow. What I sought, huh? Not likely. Not unless Yatsuhashi could bring an end to this civil war and have me back in my dorm fretting over how to ask Weiss out and how I was going to avoid being called up for another spar by Miss Goodwitch.

It was only once we were outside once more that anyone spoke, and it was Cardin, turning to me with a wide grin on his face, and an even wilder light in his eye.

"That went better than I thought it would!"

I'd never wanted to punch someone in the face quite so badly.

* * *

 **This week has been a bit of a rush for me thanks to this show of mine, ugh. Things should be calming down a little moving forward, however, which is a relief. Anyway, here is the chapter, and Jaune's continued involvement in the Civil War grows.**

 **On the "Beacon Forums", I just equate it to the kind of thing every University has, where you can chat, post notices, download resources, etc. An intranet, I suppose.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 14** **th** **October**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	4. Chapter 4

**The war continues – but harken, a change on the horizon. Is that a heroic sight we see? Yes, sort of. It's some cover art for Beacon Civil War, provided by Jack Wayne on Deviant Art. You can check it there for a close-up.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – The First Blow**

"No one seeks conflict. Sometimes it sneaks up on you, strikes before you notice. Kind of like women, really. One second you're single, the next – bam – jumped by both your teammates. Dunno why Qrow always gives me that luck, though. Doesn't it happen that way for everyone?"

 _Taiyang Xiao-Long, Blonde Bastard_

* * *

Medical supplies or food; that was our quest. A quest which I've been unfairly saddled with, mind – but a quest nonetheless. I could remember playing video games like that when I was younger, albeit the enemies were usually far weaker and more grotesque in nature. Naturally, the beautiful women of Beacon were neither of those. Still, between the choice of the two assets, one seemed easier than the other, and it was that fact which kept me from truly panicking, and was honestly the only reason I was willing to give this a go in the first place.

"This seems unusually easy," Sky commented as we walked through the corridors. "I mean, can we really just walk up to the infirmary and ask for medicine?"

"I don't see why not," I replied. "It's not like this is a real war. No one's going to prevent us from getting supplies if we're injured." Not to us, anyway. Had it been CRDL on their own, and had it been Blake in the way, she might have.

"Jaune has a point," Ren said. "From what I recall, there are rules surrounding the medical facility and it's exempt from the war. Even with this being sprung on us so randomly, I imagine the faculty had time to plan and organise it. They'd have something in place to make sure no one was badly hurt." Ren scanned the corridor ahead, and only when it was clear did he continue. "If people felt afraid to visit the infirmary, then the smallest cut could become an infection that costs someone a leg."

I nodded and flicked open my scroll, reading through the handy list of rules Ozpin had thought to send to us. To every student, of course. There were instructions on how to win the war – most of which I skimmed over as being utterly unnecessary – but among them were the rules. Some were on how you had to treat prisoners, ensuring a minimum level of meals, freedom and care, along with rules that stated prisoners couldn't take advantage of that humanitarianism to escape. More importantly, however, were the strict guidelines surrounding the medical facilities.

"No one faction can take command of or limit, inhibit or control access to the medical facilities for any student," I read. "Should wounded from one side approach under the banner of seeking medical aid, they must be allowed to enter the facility without interruption. Failure to comply, or seeking to use such caveats for your own advantage, will lead to harsh punishment."

"What do you imagine harsh punishment means?" Dove asked.

"Nothing we want to see," Cardin grunted. "Whether it's Miss Goodwitch or that Doctor giving it, neither is a good option."

It was interesting how Cardin didn't show any of his usual racism towards Miss Tsune. Maybe he knew better than to annoy the person who might be responsible for putting you back together again if you were hurt, or maybe he was just afraid of her. Neither was a particularly bad reason.

"Still, this is a free win for us," I said, putting the scroll away. "We walk in, ask for some supplies and walk out. No problems."

I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. It took less than ten minutes for a problem to occur, and it appeared as Ren slamming out an arm into my chest, pushing me back and preventing the others from crossing around the corner. "Wait," he hissed. "Enemies."

"Girls?" Russel asked.

"If it were Grimm I wouldn't sound so worried." He gestured for us to stay back and crouched low. Of all of us, Ren was the quietest. And the fastest. And probably the strongest too, now that I thought about it. There really was no reason why he wasn't in charge other than my utterly undeserved reputation. "There are six, no, eight. Wait, there's another patrol. That's sixteen, and-" His voice trailed off in a muffle of curses.

"What is it?" I asked, voice low.

Ren's eyes were haunted. "Yang."

The name along was enough to send a rush of fear through me. I fell back, despite that I was completely out of sight already. My back bumped into Cardin's, but far from push me away, he seemed rooted to the spot as well.

 _(Cardin's previous run-ins with Yang hadn't exactly been favourable. Much like Pyrrha, Yang had once or twice thrashed all of CRDL in one against four spars.)_

What was Yang doing here? Hell, what were so many girls doing here at all? The medical facility was off-limits, and even if it wasn't, why would they send one of their hardest hitters there?

"Maybe she's ill," Dove whispered.

It was an idea.

"She doesn't look it," Ren replied with a shake of his head. "She was scanning the corridors, not to mention she had her weapons out and there were sixteen of them alongside her. Unless they've come down with a plague, I think they intend to fight."

"They can't," I said, referring to the rules. "They can't impede us if we go in."

"But what about when we come out?"

I had no answer. The scroll came back out and a quick flip through the rules found the relevant section. Ren, Cardin and the rest of his team huddled around behind me to read it. "While none can inhibit teams or individuals from entering the medical facility, it is also expressly forbidden to use hide in the facility until the War Games have concluded. Patients will be dismissed with immediate effect once they are deemed fit and healthy by Beacon's medical practitioner."

"And not a line about what happens afterwards," Cardin hissed. "Damn it. They're not there to stop people getting in; they're standing guard to arrest those who come out. The second a guy is healed, they're rounded up and marched off as a prisoner."

"That's despicable," Russel said.

"It's genius," Ren countered. "This level of organisation espouses what we're up against. It's not just the propaganda messages encouraging to trade food for freedom, but now also guards about the medical facility. I wouldn't be surprised if they have checkpoints at strategic locations, too."

Neither would I, really, and I could imagine a few people with the nuance to suggest such things. Weiss and Blake were obvious choices, but Pyrrha was no slouch, and Velvet was damn intelligent when she had reason to be. I'd thought it suspiciously fortunate that we hadn't run into anyone before now, and the reason was clear. They wanted men to feel safe coming here. If we approached, Yang would smile, give us a wave and let us past. Then, once we were immediately kicked out for not being sick, she'd capture us and take what supplies we'd managed to sneak out.

This was the kind of organisation we were up against. This was what we had to deal with. Compared to this, how were the six of us (seven with Zwei) ever supposed to achieve victory? The answer was obvious. We weren't.

Our goal, my goal, was only to survive.

"Let's back out," I whispered. "We're done here. There's nothing to gain from staying."

/-/

With the medical facility out of the bargain, we quickly found ourselves skulking back to the quiet and confined corner of the Academy Yatsuhashi's base was located in. There wasn't much point going back empty-handed, but it wasn't like we could go where the food actually was, since the cafeteria was a hotspot of enemy activity. In fact, it was probably their headquarters.

"What do we do?" Dove asked. "How are we even meant to find more food? The first was a miracle."

"Jaune will find a solution," Russel said. The look he gave me was filled with a worrying amount of awe and belief. I didn't deserve it and didn't know how to deal with it. I nodded and refused to acknowledge it any further. Sadly, the others were less willing to do so, and all nodded in agreement, dumping the responsibility on me again.

"We'll figure something out," I said, more to allay their concerns than from any actual confidence. I made sure to use the plural `we`, however. My eyes scanned over the rooms beside the corridor, many of which had doors ajar and already open. That was intentional, I felt, though whether it was a move on the guys or girls part, I had no idea. It was a way of showing the room had been searched, of advertising that there was no point wasting time on it. If a door was closed, it either meant it hadn't been rooted, or that someone had taken to hiding inside.

None of them in the corridor were closed. No food by scavenging, it seemed, and even if there was, it wouldn't be enough to impress Yatsuhashi and his little group. Beacon was a school where food was provided freely in the cafeteria. With that in mind, there wasn't much need for students to stockpile more in their dorms, and what little there was usually consisted of sweets or alcohol. Right now, a little of the latter would have been nice.

"We could attack another female patrol," Cardin suggested. "It's what worked the first time."

"I'd like to avoid that," I said.

Cardin shot me a suspicious look. "Why?"

It was the first sign of suspicion I'd received from him in a while, and was probably a sign the effects of my bullshittery were fading. To be fair, we'd not had a single success to our name since the first feeding, and the heady results of that had probably departed. I wracked my mind for an answer that would please him, while also maintaining the image of control on my part. "The girls have already been alerted to our presence," I eventually said. "By now, the Girl Scouts will have reported back on what happened, but they'll expect us to have fled the area. If we attack another set now, we as good as scream our location over the PA system."

"Hm," Cardin nodded. "Makes sense."

"Once we're bigger, we can do that," Russel added. "Jaune needs to be at the head of a real tribe if we want to have a chance of winning, though."

"Yeah, sure…" I sighed. "That's exactly my reason. We should-" A distant thrum filled our ears and I came to a stop automatically, the others following suit. It sounded like it was above, and I raised my head towards the ceiling. "What's that noise?"

"Sounds like a Bullhead," Ren said.

"It's just a supply drop," Cardin said, waving one hand as though it were an everyday occurrence. "It's part of the War Games, apparently. A Bullhead flies over every eight hours or so and drops a crate of goods at a random location. First come, first served."

Now that he'd pointed it out, I could recognise the familiar hum of a Bullhead's engines. "What's in them?"

"No idea. Not like I've ever opened one. You and Ren didn't know about them?"

"We stuck to the far interior of Beacon," Ren answered for us. "I guess we never noticed, or just assumed it was a normal Bullhead for the school. They must still be shuttling food in and out. You say it'll be dropped in a random location?"

"That's the gist. Why?"

Ren pointed out the nearby window, and our faces pressed against the glass as we saw the Bullhead come to a stop maybe a hundred metres out, and two hundred in the air. It started to hover over a flat area of grass between this wing and the one next to it. Something fired from the vehicle, slamming into the ground, and a bright red plume of smoke started to rise.

Paradoxically, my stomach fell. I knew before looking what the expressions on everyone's faces would be, but I still turned around anyway, just on the off-chance I'd be wrong. Obviously, there was no such luck. Everyone was staring at me, Russel with stars in his eyes, the others expectantly. Even Zwei had his forelegs on my shin, head tilted upwards. I let out a long, beleaguered sigh.

"We've found our supplies."

/-/

"You want us to go in alone?" Cardin hissed. His eyes were wide and afraid; as well they ought to be since I was asking him to wander out with just his teammates into what was essentially a huge expanse of zero cover. He scanned the buildings on either side, but there was no telling how many faces watched from the windows.

"Four or six, it doesn't really matter," I said. "We'll be outnumbered either way if the girls come for this. You four are the strongest, so you can carry the most stuff when we get it."

He didn't seem entirely enthused with my impeccable logic, and once again rewarded me with a suspicious expression. It seemed Cardin wasn't quite so naïve. Either that or the fear was breaking through any goodwill I'd earned.

"And what will you and Ren be doing while we risk our lives like this?"

I tried for my most heroic smile, even as I have a very un-heroic answer. "We'll be keeping watch, of course."

"Keeping watch…" His eyes narrowed. "From the safety of the main building, I presume?"

"Someone has to do it, and we're faster than you guys. Look, it's all fairly simple. Ren and I will stay on the outskirts keeping an eye out for the girls. If we see anything, we'll give you the sign to run, and you get out while you can." I laughed in what I hoped was a confident manner. "Honestly, you'll be the safest of us all. You'll get advance warning as soon as any girls are spotted. Ren and I are the ones in real danger."

Or Ren was, to be honest. I was to guard the building we'd just come from, the quiet and abandoned wing where there were no war objectives. Ren, on the other hand, was going to keep watch from the other side, the wing that not only had a single capture point, but was also closer to both the infirmary _and_ the cafeteria. I'd done that on purpose, of course, even if I did feel bad throwing Ren into such danger.

 _(And I'm sure that was a sign of trust in my abilities on Jaune's part, and nothing more.)_

"This is the only way it's going to work," I said, pushing Cardin from behind. "Now go, quick. When that crate drops, you need to be on it fast."

"I'll be watching you," Cardin called ominously. Nonetheless, he took his team and stalked out into the open garden.

I breathed a sigh of relief once he was gone. If all went well, we'd come out of this rich in supplies and I'd have yet again proved I could be relied on. If it didn't go well, Team CRDL would be captured and Ren and I could go back to what we had been before, albeit now with all the other supplies from the Girl Scouts. Either way, I'd come out fine. As long as I was far away from the action, everything would be okay.

Did I feel bad for Cardin and his team? It's hard to say, really. This wasn't the kind of thing that would end with their deaths even if they did fail, so it wasn't like I was callously throwing their lives away. Besides, Cardin had smacked me around at Forever Fall and bullied me before. Maybe it was only fair I got my own back in some way.

That was only if it all went bad. If I saw some girls approaching, I would alert Cardin and his friends, as long as it didn't put me in danger to do so, of course. While I didn't much like the unusual faith they seemed determined to have in me, I liked the idea of _not_ having four expendable meat shields even less.

As far as I was concerned, there were only two people that mattered in this war. Myself and Ren, and in that order. Maybe Zwei, too, but only because I dreaded to imagine what Ruby and Yang might say if he got hurt on my watch. I glanced down to him and he yipped happily at my feet. At least someone was having fun.

"Ha ha, it looks like we have some brave recipients," a familiar voice cried from the Bullhead. Peter Port leaned dangerously out the side, one hand on the vehicle's railing, the other inside it. "Hold the line, my boys. As always, I come bearing gifts!"

He dragged something out and let it fall, the tall, black-cased crate spinning through the air. Cardin and his team spread out lest it hit them, but the action proved pointless for a large parachute quickly spring out the back of the crate, arresting its fall. It started to drift down slowly.

Very slowly…

"Wonderful," I hissed. "I thought this looked too easy. That's going to take at least two or three minutes to land, and that smoke will be seen all around the academy." The girls would have passed the information along via whatever grapevine they had in place, and I could easily imagine them sending out people right now. I gave the area another nervous scan, but there was no movement. Had we pulled a quick one over them? Maybe they were busy putting down some guys on the other part of school. Maybe they just didn't need the supplies and figured it wasn't worth risking their time on.

Still, who knew Peter Port played popular video games. I was fairly sure this scenario had been used in at least ten games recently, and in almost the exact same way. It was nice to see someone was taking such pleasure at our expense.

Seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, and each of those felt like an age in itself. Every rustle of a bush, or sound of the wind through the grass, had my nerves tingling. I kept my breath low, eyes focused around me. Cardin and his lot seemed very small and vulnerable out in the open, but there had yet to be a shot fired. Even if there was, that would be a far kinder fate than anything else. They could tank that with aura and flee. The real risk was someone coming out to challenge them.

The crate slowly drifted down. My mouth felt dry.

"Jaune…?"

My stomach sank. The voice was familiar – which was all kinds of bad. I turned, praying to whatever deity existed that my senses had betrayed me. None of them answered. Little wonder I was an atheist.

"Jaune!" Nora happily cheered, stood at the head of six girls.

I ran.

She gave chase.

My shoulder impacted the door and it slammed open, me stumbling through it. Even while half-falling, I grabbed the edge and flung it shut behind me – only to whimper as I heard it crash open half-a-second later. I didn't dare look back. I knew what I'd see. Death and destruction.

"Oh, Jauuune!" Nora sang, her heavy footfalls hammering behind. "It's so good to see you. Pyrrha will be so pleased. It's not the same, you know? The team needs to get back together."

I gasped for breath as I took the stairs three at a time, one hand on the railing to help drag me up. My lungs burned by the time I reached the fourth floor. I glanced over the edge in time to see Nora skipping up without a care in the world. Her eyes locked onto mine and she smiled happily. How she could do that with whatever she had in mind, I had no idea. With a startled cry, I staggered down the corridor.

 _I've got to hide. I've got to hide._ There was no way I could outrun her. I wasn't unfit, but Nora was ridiculous – she could run for days. I'd attended one of her fitness sessions before. I knew what she was like!

"Oh, Jaune~" she called. "You can run, but you can't hide~"

Really? I'd take my chances. The fourth floor classrooms were on either side of the corridor and I ducked into one, drawing the wooden door shut behind me. Zwei squeezed through my legs to get in, and we ducked into a cupboard. I held the corgi against my chest and squashed my hand over his snout.

A second later, the door to the classroom slid open.

"Are you sure he went in here?" someone asked. "It looks deserted."

"He's here," Nora replied confidently. "I know Jauney. He's hiding."

"Didn't you say he couldn't hide?"

"Yep. That's why he's hiding. He's smart enough to know it's his only chance." She giggled and stepped into the classroom. "That's why he's our beloved team leader."

At any other time I might have melted a little at that, but right now the ice running through my veins prevented that. These must be the Valkyries I'd heard so much about, Nora's own personal group of enforcers and warriors. If they were anything like her, then I didn't want to deal with them. I could only hope the others outside had noticed and taken appropriate action. If I was lucky, reinforcements would already be on the way.

"Maybe I was wrong," Nora said. "He isn't here."

I held my breath, even as I sagged back against the wall. She'd missed me. I was safe.

"Or maybe…" Nora giggled. There was a mighty slam before the door in front of my face was torn off its hinges. Magnhild swung back over her shoulder. "-he's in here! Hi Jaune!"

I let out a manly scream.

Zwei leapt from my hands, propelled either from fear or my voice. The corgi sailed through the air and struck Nora in the face. She fell back with a startled yelp, and I took the chance for what it was, ducking past her.

"Good boy!" I yelled, even as Zwei pushed off her face, ran for the door, and scurried out, abandoning me. "Bad boy! Damn it, Zwei!"

Nora roared angrily behind me, and it was instinct alone which had me ducking as a desk sailed by overhead, slamming into the wall behind me and shattering into pieces. I doubt she'd thrown it so much as knocked it aside in a furious charge. I kept my head low and crashed through a door, into another classroom. Eyes wide, and now trapped, I rushed over to put several desks between me and the entrance.

The door shook.

The wood splintered.

An eye appeared through the crack.

"Here's NORA! Oh wait, it's unlocked." She coughed and slid inside, closing the damaged door behind her. "If anyone asks…"

"It was like that when we found it," I responded automatically.

"Aw, Jauney," my teammate cooed. "You always understand me. I knew you'd be an awesome teammate when we first met, even if Ren said you looked a little weedy and weak."

"Excuse me?"

 _(In my defence, you did seem it at first.)_

"D-Did I say that? Oh, you know me. I say things." She laughed it off, and her expression was soon replaced with a far hungrier one. "Where's Ren, Jaune? Where is he? He's always with you, so I know you know where he is."

It wasn't a surprise what she was focused on. Ren had always been the main goal, with me just a means to getting him. If I ratted him out, he'd be in trouble – the kind of which he might never recover from. Ren was my best friend, my only male friend in Beacon. The Bro Code dictated I carry his whereabouts to my grave.

"He's out getting supplies from the airdrop," I said. Sure, it was ratting Cardin out, but at least Ren would have a chance to run.

"Do you think I'm that silly?" Nora asked, settling her hands on one of the desks keeping us apart. As usual, she wore a huge smile on her face, but there was a certain edge to it now. "You'd not be running around on your own, Jaune. Ren is nearby. He must be. Ah, I can't wait to find him. We can be together." She froze, hands clapped before her. "Not together-together, of course. I mean, we've been together for ages, but that's different."

"Yeah, well, I told you he's outside," I said, pointing out the window. "You can probably see him from here if you take a look. I'm being honest, I promise!"

"You're trying to trick me into looking so you can run."

"I'm not!"

"You don't normally lie, but this must be to protect Ren, so I'll forgive you. You and he are like best male-friends like me and Pyrrha. Well, except the male part. At least I think. Pyrrha has nice boobs, but I've never seen her fully naked. Huh, I should check. Anyway, you're lying to try and protect Ren. I like that, Jaune. I really do. You're a really loyal friend and every one of Ren's friends should be loyal to him."

"You're really reading too much into this," I said frantically. "I'm not that good a friend. Seriously, I'm selling him out to save my skin right now. You can go catch him if you let me get away. I won't even try to stop you."

"Nope!" Nora giggled and swept three desks aside with her bare hands. "I won't let you trick me. If you're willing to risk your life to protect Ren's, that's fine with me. Pyrrha will be happier if I capture you both anyway."

"I'm not risking anything!"

"You're so brave, Jaune."

"Oh my God, you're worse than Cardin and his whole bloody team!" I broke right, hoping to get around her while she was busy with the desks. God only knew why she was so determined I was doing this to protect Ren, but maybe if I could reach him, she'd forget all about me. I made a dash for the door. If I could just- "Oof!"

"That was rude," Nora said, having caught my stomach with the end of her hammer. I was folded over the top, struggling to breathe. "We were talking."

"You… You hit me with a hammer," I pointed out, wheezing. "Also rude…"

Nora's eyes narrowed. "You compared me to Cardin. Ruder."

"T-Touché…"

"I'll let it go, though," she said, lifting me higher so that her weapon was pointed vertically upwards and I was balanced atop it like some kind of gangly effigy. "Now, come on. We need to find Ren and then we can get back to being a full team again. You'll be in prison, of course, but we'll look after you. Pyrrha's been going over all the different ways she'll keep you locked up ever since this whole thing began." She paused. "Honestly, it's kinda creepy. Even for me."

Yeah, that sounded about right. I still had no idea what Pyrrha had in store for me, but my instincts warned me finding out would be the worst choice available. Even worse than taking a huge blow to my aura, which – coincidentally – I was prepared to do.

"S-See you later, Nora," I said, grinning wildly.

"Huh?"

I slammed my foot into Magnhild's trigger, and the world erupted in agony.

There's nothing quite like a grenade going off on your stomach to make you appreciate how nice it is to _not_ have a grenade go off on your stomach. I'd been launched by Nora's weapon before, though mostly through my feet and when I'd been ready for it. My gut was less sturdy, and spittle and air flew from my lips as I was propelled horizontally across the classroom. My aura remained strong. The window I crashed into didn't. The cool touch of the air outside was sweet and soft.

The ground wasn't. My body could barely move and my eyes were fixed on the blue sky, flickering to the side slightly as a black Bullhead shot away.

Hands settled under my shoulders, and Cardin's face filled my vision. It wasn't quite as pretty a picture and I whimpered softly.

"We got the crate," he said, equal parts joy and awe on his face. "You kept them distracted while we took it. I… I can't believe I doubted you. I hope you'll forgive me." He started to drag me away, my feet trailing across the grass. "You're a hero, Jaune. A damned hero!"

I didn't feel like a hero.

I felt like pain.

* * *

 _While I would not normally seek to end one of Jaune's chapters with an excerpt, I feel one is necessary here, if only to highlight what happened outside of his sight – a series of events Jaune himself would almost certainly make no mention of in his memoirs. While I was able to personally find a most poignant witness to interview, I feel I must prematurely apologise for what you will soon read. Although he is a great and loyal man, there is much to be said about General Cardin's style of writing, and his prose. None of it being particularly positive._

 _Lie Ren_

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **The Road to Manhood, Chapter 2**

 **Written by General Cardin Winchester,**

* * *

 _I have a confession to make, dear readers. You see, I was not always the brave and loyal soldier I am today, nor quite as faithful and devout as I ought to have been. Fear wracked me in those early days, and some of my Lord's actions spread the insidious seeds of doubt within me. I realise now that I simply could not understand his greatness, but at that time I was young, untested, and so very, very foolish._

 _It was with such fear that I led my unit close to the objective, scanning the nearby buildings more than we did the skies we'd been tasked to safeguard. Had any women descended upon us, our position would have left us open and exposed, a fact we all knew well. Morale was at an all-time low, and I doubt I was the only one to consider that our trust might have been misplaced._

" _Do you think this is fair?" I recall Dove asking. "Those two are busy sitting out the action while we risk ourselves with this. Why aren't they out here with us?"_

" _He must have a plan," Russel replied. He was always the most devout of us, his faith worn as a badge of honour. Nowadays, I look back and thank him for what little strength I drew, but at the time it was with disdain that I regarded my fellow._

" _I'm not sure he does," I growled – and forgive me, my Lord – for I continued, "I'm starting to think we made a mistake trusting Jaune on something like this. If he was a true leader he'd be out here leading from the front, not skulking in the shadows like some kind of coward."_

 _My team muttered their agreements, all but Russel, who remained silent, knowing an argument would serve only the feminine cause. As the crate drew ever closer, we became increasingly aware of the tension in the air. Even though no one was within sight, it seemed obvious that eyes watched us. I nodded to Sky, and he took a position off to one side, prepared in case of ambush. Without instruction, Russel did the same to my left. While we were not, and had never been, the strongest team in Beacon, we made up for it with discipline and stiff determination._

 _But even I knew that would not be enough when my eyes spied her. Not them, for the girls with her meant nothing – not compared to the threat she posed._

 _Nora Valkyrie._

 _The Scourge of Beacon, Bane of Men, Slayer of Y-Chromosomes._

 _Our journey – our freedom – was over._

 _But harken reader, for in this desperate hour when all hope seemed lost, when my faith dwindled and my weapon-arm grew heavy, HE appeared. Like lightning he dashed from cover, drawing the gaze of the enemy almost instantly. While a terrifying force, Nora was well known for being more akin to a Berserker in mentality. She gave chase without thinking, and he, the very man whose courage I had questioned, led her away. Better still, some of her companions followed – until instead of six and the most dangerous woman in Beacon, we faced only three._

 _The sun seemed to shine brighter that day._

 _I tell you, reader, that you can never understand the feeling I felt – the transformation I went through. It felt as though I had been reborn. I wanted to sing, cry and fall to my knees at the same time. My body, I know not how to describe the sensation but to say that nothing I have ever felt again has come close to comparing._

 _My mace surged forwards and my lungs filled with air. "For Jaune! CHARGE!" I roared, with the voice of the heavens themselves. I suited action to my words, not once looking back to see if my companions followed me. I need not have. Their voices rose in adulation behind, and like a wave of righteous fury we fell upon the foe._

 _Ren, too, he who had been blessed to be His companion attacked from behind – and the reduced enemy forces were caught in a pincer between us. Like the hammer and anvil true, we smashed into and through them. My muscles sang a song of joy and glory as I swept from side to side, launching one girl high into the air before bringing her back down again in a cloud of dust. A second attacked me from behind, but was kicked aside by Lie Ren – a man I had once considered my enemy._

 _We shared a nod, and perhaps even more that went unsaid. As our backs touched, I felt that a bond had formed._

 _In the distance, a high-pitched scream of panic sounded._

" _Listen!" I called, head held high. "Even now Jaune fights against them – even outnumbered and overpowered. Do you hear that woman's scream? He must have struck her down. Our leader, our Lord, our Saviour! Fight," I roared. "Fight like he fights!"_

 _And we did. We fought. We fought until our bodies burned and a thousand cuts littered my frame, and still on, I fought. Through determination, grit and fervour, we cut down the foe and reduced them to groaning heaps on the grass. By the time the crate touched down, we stood victorious._

 _The crate was quickly revealed to us, a collection of food, medical supplies, dust and ammunition – all in quantities I had never thought to discover. We took all that we could and left the rest for the carrion. Perhaps other men would come and supply here once they knew it was safe. Perhaps they would be inspired as we had, by the victory our Lord had granted us._

 _Another victory granted by Him. An impossible victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. I knew then, dear reader, that this would be the man who would save us. I knew that he would take, shape and rebuild us. I was not prepared before, dear reader. Now, I was. On that bounty, I made an oath._

 _I would follow Jaune Arc until the ends of Beacon – and beyond._

* * *

 **And there we go, the war continues – and Jaune pulls off another unlikely win. Naturally, this will cause problems, especially when Nora reports back to the women. It's also clear Port has been playing too much PUBG, or maybe any of the other hundred or so games which use random air drops. But hey, the idea of a battlegrounds scenario is kind of what this is based off. Imagine Battle Royale, except that it's split into two teams – but one team is all organised, in team chat, and all got dropped next to one another. Meanwhile the other team is scattered around the map and filled with random people all with different agendas and languages.**

 **And yeah, Cardin is the Sulla of this universe. Good times.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 28** **th** **October**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we go with another chapter of the war most holy. Of** _ **Man**_ **kind's struggles against the great and powerful horde.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 _There were several aspects of the war which did not make sense to even me at the time, not least of which some of the decisions made by our female counterparts, which at the time seemed random or unexplained, but upon which later explanation by those involved shed new light._

 _It is with that in mind that I include this next excerpt, which might help to explain not only why Jaune's almost insignificant run-in with Nora was so important, but also why my own services in translation of Nora's speech is important._

 _Lie Ren, oft-unappreciated translator_

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War, Chapter 4**

 **Written by Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _To assume that the male population of Beacon rolled over and died when we took over is perhaps too simple. Some chose to surrender, giving themselves over to the lavish prisons we ran, where their only sacrifice was to sit and read in confinement while we fed and cared for them, but there were yet more who continued to fight – and some who did so with great honour and ingenuity._

 _Some sought to gather their forces and rally the men, and were routinely crushed. Others_ _stalked and attacked our convoys, stealing food and inconveniencing us, and they too were hunted as best we were able. Yet more, however, simply waited in silence, remaining hidden away, and for the most part the decision was to leave those men be. So long as they did not make themselves a threat, there was no need to waste resources hunting them._

 _But there was always a chance they might grow into something more, and it was warning of that which Nora Valkyrie, head of the Valkyrie Unit, brought to the high command one morn._

" _There I was," she said, eyes shining. "Surrounded by men – at least thirty of them!"_

" _Thirty?" High Queen Pyrrha Nikos asked, shocked._

" _That's madness," Brigadier General Weiss Schnee agreed. "We would have heard of a force that large gathering, and you're suggesting these were led by Jaune of all people?"_

" _Excuse me. Am I telling the story or are you? Right, thanks. So, there I was, surrounded by at least forty-five men, each of them driven mad from hunger, each of them driven even madder by my fierce and unrelenting beauty."_

" _Erm-" Yang, Captain of the Dragoons, tried to intervene, but was silenced by HRH Nikos, who simply pushed her hands down and shook her head meaningfully._

" _The situation was bad," Nora continued. "I had no idea what to do, and worse, Jaune said how he was going to keep Ren to himself, preventing us from being together once more. Well, not together-together, but-"_

 _(This continues for a paragraph or three, of which I shall mercifully spare you – Lie Ren)_

" _And Jaune stood before me, at least six foot-five."_

" _Six-five?" Yang asked. "What?"_

" _He's grown," Nora said._

" _Even taller?" Pyrrha asked, eyes shining._

" _Yep. You'll love it, Pyrrha. Trust me."_

" _Oh, I think I will…"_

" _Anyway," Nora continued. "He had fire in his eyes and wielded his mighty sword in one hand, his stalwart shield in the other. I was closed in on every side, left without any hope of retreat, and with his vast horde bearing down on me." Nora paused and swept an arm before her for dramatic effect. "I was trapped!"_

 _The Brigadier General sniffed. "I am not convinced Jaune Arc could trap a fly."_

" _Yeah," Yang agreed. "And fire in his eyes? Are you sure you weren't fighting a Grimm or something?"_

" _Look, I know my team leader, okay? It was Jauney, he was armed to the teeth, and he was at the head of at least sixty men."_

" _How does the number keep growing!?"_

" _Because of his reputation," Nora explained, as if to a small child. "Duh. People are flocking to his banner, and the fact he managed to get past me and grab the supply drop is only going to help."_

" _Wait, you didn't even explain `how` he got past you."_

" _Oh, he jumped out the window," Nora said, waving a hand._

 _The Brigadier General was left open-mouthed. "And the sixty or more men surrounding you?"_

" _They ran away."_

" _Why on Remnant would they run away!? Your story makes absolutely no sense!"_

" _It's not a story," Nora defended, sounding equally offended. "It's a battle report."_

" _And we're expected to believe this," Weiss said. "We are expected to believe that Jaune Arc, weakest fighter in Beacon and all-around stalking leech, is somehow able to inspire the defeated men of Beacon into a tribe capable of threatening our rule? Jaune Arc," she repeated, as if that somehow was the main focus. "Jaune. Arc. Tall, blonde and scraggly."_

" _It makes perfect sense to me," Pyrrha Nikos declared, standing. "Jaune has always been leader material."_

" _No, he hasn't been!" Weiss howled._

 _"He's charismatic-"_

 _"He absolutely isn't!"_

 _"Inspiring-"_

 _"You're not even listening, are you?"_

 _"And if there was anyone who could defeat me, it would be him."_

" _Are we even talking about the same guy anymore?" Yang asked, sighing._

 _Pyrrha smiled dreamily. "I always knew he'd be a leader of men one day…"_

" _Okay, never mind." Weiss threw her arms into the air. "I suppose it can't hurt to take this seriously on the off-chance – the very, very, slim chance – that it might be real. At the very least it's better to be safe than sorry."_

 _The Captain of the Dragoons shrugged. "Works for me, Weiss-cream. What do you have in mind?"_

" _We'll send a few units after him, drag him back and clap him in chains."_

" _We don't have chains. The prison is a hall filled with bedrooms."_

" _It's a metaphor. We'll put him in a room, close the window and tell him he isn't allowed to leave."_

" _Alright, alright," Yang chuckled. "I get it. Still, don't you think we should ask Pyrrha if that's okay? She is technically the leader here."_

 _The two paused and turned to the High Queen, who was busy mumbling to herself with two fingers held against her lips. "-and he'll become a King, and I'll be the Queen, and we'll have to make a diplomatic agreement for peace. Oh no, what if he asks for me? W-Well, if it's for the good of the land…"_

" _Never mind," Yang said, sighing and raising to her feet. "I'll marshal the army. You tell the others."_

" _And then he grew great leathery wings and started to spit fire!" Nora crowed, going completely ignored as the meeting came to an end._

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – Centre of Attention**

"It was the first time we were called to action, but it would not be the last. It would, however, mark the true beginning of the Beacon Civil War."

 _Blake Belladonna, Kunoichi of Love_

* * *

In all honesty, I hadn't expected to see Yatsuhashi again, nor his tiled and lemon-scented domain, and judging from the look on his face, he hadn't expected to see me either, let alone with a trolley of various supplies behind us – Zwei perched on the top like a conquering hero born aloft by beleaguered retainers. I'd like to say I took a moment to gloat as his mouth fell open, but the reality is that I staggered over to a sink and dunked my head under the stream of cold water. After surviving a run-in with Nora, being launched out of a window and then dragged across the gardens back into the school, I felt I deserved an impromptu shower – and by Yang's cleavage (praise be) I was bloody well going to get it!

"What… what is this?" Yatsuhashi asked, approaching haltingly, as though he were unsure what he would find.

"Supplies," I answered, gargled. Whatever. "It's what you asked us to fetch for you, right?"

"Food or medicine, yes." The tall man rummaged through the stacked crates Team CRDL had managed to get from the drop, lifting out not only packets of fruit, nicely organised, but also rows and rows of candy, sandwiches and even some packaged meats with at least a week left before they went off. With loaves of bread stacked on the bottom, not to mention cordial and fizzy drinks, it was a bounty the man had clearly never expected to see, and his eyes watered. "This is… I don't even…" He looked to us, to me. "How?"

Luck, I wanted to say. Blind luck, along with a fair helping of bullshittery.

"Skill," Russel answered, long before I ever had the chance. "Skill, leadership, ability – whatever you want to call it. This is what our Lord offers. This is what he delivers!"

"This is why we follow him," Sky echoed.

"This is why _you_ should follow him," Dove finished. Behind them all, Cardin nodded, looking like a proud parent who had just watched his three bizarre children cycle down the road. It might have been a more wholesome scene were it not for the dark glares I shot them. Thanks, guys. Just thanks.

"You _did_ promise this would be enough to pass your test," Ren said, far more cautious than the others and watching the nearby boys with a keen eye. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was worried they'd try and steal our food, our hard-earned bounty, and that he was prepared to fight to defend it. I always appreciated that about him; that even when my attention wavered, he would focus on the important things.

 _(I like to think my priorities were in order. I'm glad to see Jaune agreed.)_

Yatsuhashi looked back to me, then to the food, and finally to his followers, gaunt and hungry, at least in the way young men can after a day or two of eating leftovers. Their eyes stared back longingly, but not at any human figure. Theirs were focused on the bounty before them. The older boy took a deep breath and swallowed.

"I can't fault you this, my friend. I asked of you something all but impossible, and you have delivered."

"I did," I said, sighing in relief. More meat shields would be good, and this would make us – or more importantly, Ren and I – safer. "Are you going to go through with it? Are you going to stick to your promise?"

It took Yatsuhashi only a second to decide. He took a step slowly back, and I heard CRDL and Ren reach for their weapons, only to realise them as the giant fell to one knee, his head bowed towards the floor. What was he doing, I wondered?

"I, Yatsuhashi Daichi, do hereby swear my allegiance to Jaune Arc, my chief, my commander, and the man I shalt follow unto the ends of Beacon."

I stared at him with wide eyes. This wasn't what I'd had in mind – this was _nothing_ like what I'd had in mind. I'd only meant that he agree to come with us and help us out, and a simple `sure, why not` would have sufficed in that regard. He didn't have to swear allegiance to me, and certainly not like I was some kind of terrifying warrior king.

To my horror, his men fell to one knee as well, and the sonorous sounds of their chanting echoed off the blue and white tiled walls. As I stood before the sinks, the eight teenagers knelt in a semi-circle before me, CRDL and Ren by the entrance, I couldn't help but wonder what parallel dimension I'd entered and how the hell I was supposed to get out again.

For crying out loud, I was being worshipped in a public restroom.

And now they were staring at me, waiting for me to say or do something. I glanced to Ren for an answer, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and made the universal motion for `do something`. Realising he was probably right, I coughed into my fist and stepped forwards.

"I, uh, I accept your allegiance, Yatsuhashi Daichi. I accept it from all of you." I waved a hand over the others, vaguely realising I didn't know their names at all. They seemed to all be waiting for something more, and since I had no idea what; I went for the predictably easy choice. "So, let us celebrate this occasion with a feast."

"A feast!" Yatsuhashi agreed, his huge frame bulging with muscle as he stood once more. "Our Lord's suggestion is an excellent one, I feel. This is an occasion rarely seen nowadays, and we are all beleaguered and hungry. Let us tonight forget about such things and think of better times."

"That's the spirit," I said, agreeing wholeheartedly. Feasting wasn't fighting, and I wasn't going to choke on a chocolate bar, which couldn't be said of trying to combat the female horde. I looked to CRDL to see what they thought, knowing they were the most gung-ho about the war.

"It sounds like an awesome idea," Cardin said, already shrugging off his armour. "I could use a rest after all that action, and we need to learn names anyway."

What action? I wanted to ask. You guys just stole a load of food while I had to face the terror that was Nora! Of course, the fact that I'd fully intended _them_ to deal with her wasn't the point, nor that I'd tried to rat them out. Honest!

 _(In my times with Jaune, I've noticed that he often contradicts himself like this. On the one hand, he tells himself he is selfish and that he does not care if others know it. Yet even in the musings of his journal, he continues to dredge up such times – a sign of guilt, perhaps? Or an attempt to convince himself his actions held no shred of bravery?)_

/-/

The Feast of Founding, as it would later come to be known, wasn't really a feast. It was more of a sleepover. We sat in a wide circle on various mattresses and sleeping bags swapping names and stories, and sharing food between us. There was laughter and cheering, echoed by constant munching, slurping and the fizzle and hiss of bottles of pop being opened.

To anyone reading this, it might seem a small thing, but to us it was so much more. I saw tears stain the cheeks of some as they tasted chocolate and gorged on sweet meat, and there was not a one of us who dared call out a fellow man for showing such weakness. Not in times such as these. I can't remember what silly things we spoke of, but as an hour turned into two, and as even our appetites failed to keep up with what was on offer, I was left to lean back and belch contentedly, the satisfied war cry echoed by several others, who burst into laughter soon after. Even the fact we were huddled and hiding in a toilet went forgotten. It had ceased to matter, and at least we didn't have far to go to relieve ourselves.

"I have to admit," Yatsuhashi said, sprawled on the floor and taking up room for two, yet smiling like the jolly giant he was, "I did not expect you to complete my Quest, my Chief."

"Chief?" I asked, laughing. "Don't be silly. Call me Jaune."

"Thank you, Jaune." He nodded. "As for whom you are, well, I think it is only fair that you be the Chieftain of this tribe, for what is what we are."

"I suppose." I didn't have the heart to argue with him, and if such a little thing would make them feel better, then why not.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said, raising his voice. "A cheers to our new leader – Jaune Arc, Warchief!"

"Warchief!" they chanted, plastic cups raised high. "Warchief! Warchief! Warchief!"

As the noise died down and conversation started anew, Cardin and Ren made their way over to us, sitting down on either side of me and forming a small circle between the four of us, including Yatsuhashi since he was still more trusted by his people than I was.

"This is a good first step," Cardin began, indicating the men around us. "Our numbers have swelled from six to fourteen in a day."

"According to the forums, that would make us one of the largest groups around," Ren added, looking at his scroll.

 _(In lieu of anything else to do, I made it a habit to seek information on the war and our circumstances. Information, after all, is power. Though it was no official designation, I found myself both amused and humbled by CRDL's not-so-secret nickname for me. When they thought me not listening, they would call me the Lord's Spymaster.)_

"Fourteen is the biggest?" I asked, surprised.

"By far, I'm afraid. I can't say everything we hear about on the forums is true, but at best people have two teams banding together to form eight. There just isn't enough food to support a larger population."

"That is the problem we faced," Yatsuhashi agreed with a solemn nod. "The larger your group, the further you must roam in search of food. We used to number ten but for two who failed to return from their scavenging hunt." He looked aside, eyes closed in memory of those lost. Perhaps he felt the blame for it lay with him. "I can only assume they ran afoul of patrols and were captured."

"In which case they're probably living it better than us," I pointed out. "They'll be well fed and looked after, at any rate."

"But they will not have their freedom. A man can survive without many things, but freedom is not one of them."

I disagreed – but wasn't about to say that. In terms of surviving, I couldn't help but think it was a little backwards. You _could_ survive without freedom. What you couldn't survive without was food and water, which just so happened to be exactly what the girls were offering. Yet again, if it weren't for the unknown and humiliating horrors that no doubt awaited Ren and I courtesy of our teammates, I'd have hog-tied and hand-delivered myself to them already.

Sadly, the Beacon Civil War was only going to last a week, whereas the consequences of failure – and the pictures taken after Nora had `prettied us up` with make-up and dresses – would last a lifetime. That couldn't be allowed to happen. I still had dreams of getting a girlfriend at some point, and I didn't need that kind of incriminating weighing down on me.

"We should plan out our next steps," Cardin said. He was as gung-ho as ever, and the doubt he'd harboured for me before was gone, replaced instead with a confident smile he shot my way. "Thanks to Jaune's leadership, we have the tempo on our side, but it won't last. We need to strike now while we have the advantage."

While I appreciated his blind (and foolish) faith in me, I couldn't quite say the same about his enthusiasm and shook my head quickly. "Are you nuts? We can't just attack the girls like that. We'll be annihilated."

"Oh, I didn't mean an attack. We need to consolidate our position as a tribe and recruiting more men to the cause."

"We will need to find ways of sustaining them too," Yatsuhashi said. "It will not do to aim too large and find ourselves struggling for food. As it is the one commodity many of the free-men lack, if we can gather enough we can use that to attract new tribesmen."

Cardin regarded the larger man with interest. "That's not a bad idea. You've put some thought into this."

"As a previous chieftain, such things were always at the fore of my mind," Yatsuhashi said, almost bashfully. "It is no great feat, not compared to what our Warchief has achieved. I am not at all upset to have given away my command. Mine was never to lead. I am a follower."

"Good. We'll need to make sure everyone else understands that too." Cardin pulled out his scroll and opened up a map of Beacon. "I'll have Russel spread the news on the forums, but there will still be other men who will be too arrogant to bend knee. We need to make it clear that Jaune is the _only_ salvation for mankind. It's imperative we strike down these false prophets."

The two went on like that for another minute or two, throwing plans back and forth that I could barely grasp, let alone understand. Was this what a leader really was? I'd never had to be one for JNPR, each member being more than capable of looking after themselves, and me being the one who usually needed help.

With a sigh, I made to stand, quickly catching Cardin's attention.

"You're leaving?" he asked.

"Only to stretch my legs outside," I said. It wasn't like I was leaving all the food I'd risked my self-respect for.

"What about the war session?" he asked, already having named their little chat. "How can we create an effective strategy without you here? It's only your cunning that has allowed us to get this far in the first place."

I resisted the urge to sigh and instead tried to think of something they'd accept. I was useless in the little strategy meeting anyway since I didn't understand it. Staying would only make me look like an idiot, and those two seemed more than capable on their own.

Wait a minute…

"I think you give yourselves too little credit," I said, hand on one hip. "I have faith in you. Come up with some plans between yourselves and then tell them to me afterwards. I'll decide what I think of them and offer any ideas I have." Which would be none, of course. Whatever they came up with was bound to be better than anything I could. I felt inordinately pleased with my little ruse, but paused when I realised Cardin was staring up at me with watery eyes.

"You…" He swallowed. "Do you… really mean that?"

I blinked. "Mean what?"

"That you have faith in me," Cardin whispered, as if he couldn't quite believe the concept. "After everything I've done, after all the mistakes I've made, how can you possibly think me capable of filling your shoes?"

Honestly? I didn't have any faith in him at all.

Well, that wasn't quite right. When it came to coming up with plans, Cardin was going to be better than me because _anyone_ was better than me. I was good at coming up with ideas to keep myself out of trouble, and that wasn't going to change in the future. Whatever plan Cardin had, I'd be sure to put myself at the back of. In fact, if it were to be Cardin's plan, then I could even have a good excuse to put him in charge of it if a battle ever did happen. It would let me watch from the back, nice and safe while he led the charge. I liked the idea more than I cared to admit, and a wide smile spread across my face. First, however, I needed to make sure he liked the idea as well.

"It's because I see potential in you, Cardin," I lied, placing one hand on his shoulder. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be here with you. I wouldn't be fighting by your side. Trust in yourself a little. That goes for Yatsu, too. You've led your people until now, so when it comes to the little details, it would be great if you could keep watching over them." I didn't want to be saddled down with a heap of little things like making sure people were fed and such. I didn't know much about leadership, but I did know what delegating was. It was off-loading difficult or troubling problems onto other people.

 _(That's not what delegation is, Jaune. Or rather it's not what it should be.)_

"You honour me, Warchief," Yatsuhashi said, bowing from the waist up. "In your name, I shall see it done."

"Good. And you focus on the strategy, Cardin," I said, looking back to him. "You're in charge of planning." I nodded, pleased with myself for my clever get-out-of-work plan. I half-expected them to complain, but was instead faced by Cardin's open mouth.

"You're appointing me your General!?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not."

"I… I don't know what to say. Yes, of course." His smile was nothing short of rapturous, but he forced it down and adopted as calm as stern an expression as he could, slamming a fist into his chest in some kind of clumsy salute. "It is my honour to accept your decision, Warchief. I will not let you down."

I returned the salute, just because it felt like it was expected, and then excused myself from the group, slipping out of the toilets and into the relative gloom of the late-night corridor. The insulated and tiled walls cut off the noise of chatter from within, proving another reason as to why Yatsuhashi had been successful in remaining hidden. He'd chosen his base well.

Still, it felt nice to be free of it. To be free of the cold tiles, the loud chatter, and also the adoring looks. To not feel eyes on you from behind and turn around to see someone you didn't recognise make a symbol of allegiance or worship, to look at you as if they expected you to fix all of their problems and right the wrongs they faced.

I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't even capable of righting my own wrongs. Hell, I wouldn't be able to recognise them if I'd tried. A giant sigh escaped me and I placed both hands against a cool window pane, resting my forehead against it as breath misted the glass.

"Lien for your thoughts?" a calm voice asked.

"Nothing too much," I replied, leaning back with a sigh. Out of everyone here, Ren was the only one I felt I could really trust with my thoughts, but even then I wasn't sure. It wasn't that I doubted him, but rather that I doubted the wisdom of revealing them at all. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" I asked instead.

"Do you mean you taking leadership of them?" Ren asked. I nodded. "It's hard to say," he said. "On the one part, this whole plan appears foolhardy and dangerous. Even now, there are only fourteen of us and if that does make us the largest male group in Beacon, I fear for what this means. It is still not enough to pose a threat to our teammates. Between them, I expect Pyrrha, Nora and all of Team RWBY could take us out in one battle. This is a dangerous path."

I thought the same, and still worried about something like that happening. As a group, I had the protection of everyone around me if something went wrong, but when it had been just Ren and I, we were far less noticeable. We could creep about the hidden corners of the school and avoid danger. Now, the people around us had become a cage, and they were leading us directly to war.

In the end, it all came down to a single point. I didn't want to win the Beacon Civil War. I didn't think we could whoever was in charge. I just wanted to survive it, to endure and outlast.

"But," Ren continued, "even though it's dangerous and even though it seems impossible, we find ourselves feasting and laughing this night." He turned to me, smiling a soft smile he normally reserved for Nora's antics. "When I think back on us skulking around looking for food, I remember the pangs of hunger and think that I'm grateful I don't have to feel that anymore. Time and time again I considered surrendering to Nora and going through whatever humiliation she had in stall for me. There were times I nearly gave up…"

Ren had…? I couldn't believe it. He'd always seemed so indomitable, not in the way Yang or Pyrrha were, but like a silent tree bearing a storm, unyielding, calm.

"Given our circumstances, we should not be where we are now," he said. "We should not be free. We should not be well-fed. We should not be celebrating. Yatsuhashi and his small tribe should be huddled in a bathroom waiting for hunger to drive them into the clutches of the women. They should be considering defeat." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "But they are not. They are happy – and it's because of you."

"It's because they have food," I said. "Not me."

"And without you, they would not have that." Ren chuckled and walked up to stand beside me, looking out over the gardens and towards the edge of the trees that marked the Emerald Forest. "Whether you believe you deserve such praise is your own opinion, but to them you are the one they have chosen to put their trust into."

"I don't feel like I deserve it, Ren."

"Did you think you deserved Team JNPR's trust?"

"No. I still don't."

"And yet we trust you, Jaune. And you have yet to steer us wrong."

The sound of wind whistling through leaves was all that answered him, even the cicadas that chirped in the forest going silent. Was he right? I didn't know. In the end, it didn't really matter, either. I was stuck in this situation whether I wanted it or not, and my feeling good about it wasn't going to make CRDL any less eager for war. Now, there were eight new people to deal with, each of which would expect me to move heaven and Remnant for them.

With a sigh, I leaned against the glass once more, watching the long line of fireflies dancing below. It wasn't the season for them, nor was the right temperature… and come to think of it, they weren't dancing at all. They were moving in a straight line. It was more like a formation.

"No…"

"What's wrong?" Ren asked, not having seen it.

I didn't have the time to explain. I pushed past him, ignoring his startled cry and sprinting back towards the toilets. Had there been a door, it might have slammed open, but my palm striking the cold tiles sounded much the same. It was enough to stop everyone in their tracks and have them looking towards me.

"Pack up," I rasped, eyes wide and afraid. "We're moving!"

Yatsuhashi blinked. "Now…?"

"Now," I agreed, growling as I moved in and started to stuff food into my backpack. "And unless you want to explain to the army of girls on their way what we're doing here, you'll start packing! Get the food – don't leave anything behind. Where's Zwei?" The corgi barked and rushed over to my heels. "Good boy. Don't stray far."

"An army?" Russel asked, the Mohawk-wearing teen hesitating. "There are fourteen of us now. We could take them. This could be the start of our legend!"

I laughed bitterly. "Not likely."

"Jaune's right," Ren gasped, arriving less than a minute after me and now looking as nervous as I felt. Ah, he'd seen it then. "There are at least a hundred of them! There's so many! And I saw faces… Yang, Weiss, Blake." He swallowed. "I even saw Coco."

The names were enough. Not a word was spoken as everyone leapt to their feet, disturbing and spilling cola across the tiles as they hurried to stock up on anything and everything they could. My bags were filled with food, albeit I'd spared a little space for Zwei's dog food. I pulled the straight tight and clipped it shut.

Why were there so many, and why were they heading this way? I had no proof they were after us, but I couldn't think of anything else that might have drawn them to this area. According to the scrolls, the wing we were in was without an objective capture point. There was no reason to be here other than to root someone out.

"Where will we go?" Yatsuhashi asked, lumbering over to me with his pack already filled.

"Anywhere," I said. "As long as it puts distance between us, I'm fine with it." Were they angry because I'd technically stolen the supply drop? It wasn't like they needed it, but maybe they were worried the sudden influx of food on our end would damage their propaganda push. Guys weren't going to be surrendering for food if they knew a bunch was out there for the taking.

Or maybe they just wanted revenge. This _was_ Nora. She wasn't normally the vengeful type, but only because no one was stupid enough to piss her off in the first place. I'd done more than just that; I'd outsmarted her. Would that have made her angry? Or worse, sparked her competitive spirit?

I didn't dare imagine it.

 _(Good choice.)_

"You realise that any other wing will put us into greater danger," Yatsuhashi said. "This is the only part of the academy with no objectives in the war. That is why I brought my people here. If we move to the other wings, we move _closer_ to their seat of power."

I knew that. Damn it, but I knew that. What other choice did we have, however? Well, there was _one_ other choice. I had a feeling that if Ren and I gave ourselves up, these lot would be able to go free. Ha, as if I'd let that happen. I'd been through too much to get this far and I wasn't going to go and get myself captured so these guys could savour the fruit of our labour.

"We don't have a choice. They're coming for us and there are enough of them to sweep every room in the entire wing. I wouldn't be surprised if they lock the entire area down until they find us. We need to leave. Unless you want to tangle with your team leader?" I added.

"I do not," Yatsuhashi replied. He raised his voice to the others. "Hurry now. We are to leave. Look on this not as flight for we are merely becoming something more – like a caterpillar who has yet to become the butterfly."

"And remember," Cardin echoed. "We will right these injustices heaped upon us. We _will_ have our freedom." He held a fist high, and it was quickly echoed by the others. "For the Warchief!" he called.

"Warchief Jaune! Warchief Jaune! Warchief Jaune! Yarghhh!"

I groaned and did my best not to pay any attention to them. I had the terrible feeling that if I did, I might contract the debilitating mental illness that must have been spreading around. It was the only explanation for this.

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **Tales of a Wanderer**

 **Yatsuhashi Daichi**

* * *

 _And so it was that we bid goodbye to the home we had come to love, and set out for new horizons. Unlike the many times before, we were not filled with despair or defeat, but joy and hope – both that we might find a new place to call home, but also that when we did, it would be one we could hold onto._

 _As we stepped out of the cold bathroom and into the colder air of Beacon's night time, we too saw the column that would have fallen upon us if not for the Warchief's premonition. So large a horde was enough to scare us deeply, but it also spoke of the Warchief's reputation – and his potential. If even the women feared him so, then who were we to hold a shred of doubt? And, as the sun rose on Beacon, we became nomads once more._

 _But it would not be for long, and we would not spend the rest of our time wandering the halls as directionless vagabonds. Our calling was greater, and I had the honour to be one of the few there to witness its outset._

 _War was coming._

 _And we would be in the thick of it._

* * *

 **And off they go, leaving behind the cosy confines of a wing left out of the action and moving into a wild new world of adventure and danger. I'm sure Jaune is thrilled about it all. He really is.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 11th November**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	6. Chapter 6

**It's that time again. Time for madness, genius, and the ever-present spectre of bullshit luck. It's time for the Beacon Civil War!**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – The Lines are Drawn**

"Even without a home, they drew attention. People whispered of them in hallways, while others watched nervously from afar. A group of isolated and directionless men was nothing new, but there was something about those ones. Those nomads were different; they moved not with fear, but with hope.

And for people without any?

That was enough."

 _Attributed to Unknown Male, West Wing_

* * *

Looking back, it was only a few hours, but at the time it felt like we marched for days. The night gave way to day, and with it came the baking sun that threatened to overwhelm us as we traversed through Beacon, nothing more than a scroll showing a map, and my half-assed guesses as to a destination to guide us. That we'd managed to avoid trouble so far spoke more of my dogged determination to stay away from any objective points than it did luck, not that anyone else thought that. Russel had already begun to proclaim our fortune divine providence, and I was less than enthused with the sonorous agreements of the congregation.

At least at the front I had Ren and Cardin to talk with, and I'd never thought I would count Cardin on a list of people I wanted at my side.

"Do we have any idea where we're going?" Cardin asked. "Not that I mean to doubt, of course. I'm simply curious to hear my Lord's wisdom."

I glanced at him for that, wondering if he was being sarcastic, but to my horror he wasn't. He was deadly serious. "You'll see when we get there," I said, hedging my bets. "You'll see…"

I had no idea where to go, obviously.

The whole school belonged to the women, and we were entering one of the other wings now, which promised all kinds of questions. To put it in picture, there were four main wings of Beacon Academy, each split off from the centre circle that most people just called the academy proper. The wings pointed out like spokes, with curved architecture reaching down from the central tower to join them. I'd seen Ruby's Uncle and Weiss' sister fight atop those, though I wasn't sure why they had, or why no one else hadn't been at least a little concerned about it.

Either way, Beacon was shaped somewhat like a compass, except that the four spokes that made the wings didn't actually point in the cardinal directions. That felt like more an architectural mistake than anything else, though. When it came to the wings, they still tended to have the points of a compass as names. We'd come from the South Wing, which didn't have any objective points in it. That was where most of the older students bunked on account of them knowing Beacon well enough to not get lost finding their lessons.

Right now, we were in the West Wing, and that was bad because it meant we were not only moving into contested territory, but that we were crossing close to the cafeteria – the seat of the women's powerful empire.

 _(And what a seat it was. Apart from the obvious advantages of food and supplies, the cafeteria's position as the most central point of the Academy also allowed them to react quickly, taking the direct route to any engagements. It was a powerful place to hold, let alone call your capital.)_

"I'm thinking we should maybe try the North Wing," I said, pointing to the map, and coincidentally towards the second-year dorms. "It's opposite the South, so it'll probably be the last place they think to look for us." Nora and the others probably assumed we'd fled into the West or East Wings, which we obviously had, but they wouldn't expect us to dare travel even further. At the moment, they'd still be scouring the South for us. That gave us time, but not much.

"Ren, is there any news on the forums?"

"People have noticed the female army," he reported, flicking his thumb and finger over the display. "There's a lot of noise about it, and it looks like someone on their side spilled the beans. There's a bounty on your head."

"What!?"

Ren showed me the screen, and my mouth fell open as I saw that it was indeed a picture of me, and to my utmost horror, it was a picture of me in my blue onesie. Beneath it, a caption read; _"Wanted: Jaune Arc, for crimes and insurrection against the women of Beacon. Reward: One week's worth of food, and the freedom to leave our fortress in peace."_

"Crimes against women?" I read, cheeks heating up. "They've made me sound like some kind of sex pest!"

"This is perfect," Cardin crowed.

"No," I denied. "No, it isn't!"

"It is," he said, his enthusiasm too much for even my despair to dent. "Don't you see? This adds to your legitimacy. Before, we probably sounded like arrogant idiots saying we were going to take them down, but now we've captured a supply drop, united a tribe _and_ the enemy are so afraid of you, they've sent out an entire army and declared you wanted across all of Beacon!"

Yeah, and no matter how much he listed those things out, they didn't start to sound any better from my point of view.

"I see," Ren said, nodding. "This adds credence to our claim. Men who doubted us before are now forced to believe us because why else would they send so many people to deal with our little insurrection?"

"Exactly." Cardin laughed. "I don't know how you did it, Jaune – but this is perfect!"

To be fair, I didn't know how I did it either. We'd taken a supply drop, sure, but that didn't seem enough to warrant almost a hundred girls led by Yang and Nora. Nora _knew_ it was just me, Ren and CRDL. Why send so many?

 _(Jaune, of course, had no idea of the report Nora processed in the excerpt I provided before, but in this regard, Weiss' penchant for caution and Yang's for over-kill served us greatly.)_

In the end, it really didn't matter. Ten or a hundred, if Yang, Nora or Pyrrha came our way, we'd best be prepared to fight to the end. Or, well, the others had. I'd be running in very much the opposite direction. On the others, I felt cautiously optimistic that our group could beat them, so long as they didn't have too many with them. Ruby, Weiss and Blake were strong, but there was fourteen of us now and-

My thoughts trailed off as I glanced behind us.

"Ren?" I asked.

My friend looked to me. "Yes?"

"There were fourteen of us, correct?"

"I believe so. Why do you-" He turned to look behind as well, and trailed off as much as I had. "Oh…"

"Yeah…"

We weren't fourteen anymore. I remember that when I was younger, I'd seen a movie where a large column of people moved through dangerous territory, and were dragged down and killed by Grimm without any noticing. If I recall, it was called Grimmic Park or something. The comparison wasn't quite accurate, however, for if it was, then the Beowolves had less dragged people down to their deaths, and more raised up to walk along with them. Basically, I had a lot more than fourteen people following me, and no one seemed to be batting an eye at it.

I looked to Cardin, knowing deep down inside that this was somehow his fault. "Explain."

"It's mostly Russel's doing," Cardin said, more in a manner that suggested he was trying to deflect undeserved praise than anger. "People have started to notice us travelling, and we're the largest male group in Beacon right now. That's turning heads. There are a lot of people stuck on their own without a hope in the world." He shrugged. "Some of those people saw us and just sort of tagged along. Even if they don't know why, they feel they've got a better chance with us."

"And I'm sure the food doesn't hurt," Ren said.

"That too." Cardin nodded to one end of the procession, where Russel was sat atop a pile of supplies. What might have seemed a lazy pose at first was revealed not so by the way he waved one hand, talking loudly to a large group of wide-eyed newcomers.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"Preaching, I think," Ren said.

"He's informing them of our purpose," Cardin corrected. He made a symbol over his heart with two fingers. "He's teaching them the true path."

I sighed. "He's indoctrinating them, then?"

"I prefer the term `true path` myself, but essentially, yeah."

Great. I'd gone and formed a cult, and mostly because I'd been lost in thought about how to avoid the women, and hadn't paid attention for the last hour or so. Absolutely wonderful. This was exactly what I'd hoped for when I'd woken up today. My teeth started to grate together, not that Cardin noticed.

More people meant more mouths to feed, and that meant more danger if we needed to scout for food. Had we kept our numbers down to just the fourteen of us, I'd thought we might be able to wait out the rest of the war with what resources we'd found. That didn't look to be the case anymore.

As if that wasn't making matters worse, if this kept going we'd end up even bigger by the time we reached the relative safety of the North Wing. That would make it hard to sneak past the women, who'd be much more likely to notice twenty to thirty people than they would ten or so.

There was nothing I could do, however. CRDL and the others were all dead set on the idea of me being their Warchief, and greater numbers would work towards that. If I complained or tried to send people away, they'd realise I was a fraud and Ren and I would be cast out. Cast out without food, support, and now with a hefty reward over my head. I doubted Ren would turn me in for it, but there was no telling if the others wouldn't.

I was stuck. Stuck and smiling a smile filled with teeth, bile and false promise. "That's wonderful, Cardin. Wow. Please make sure to tell Russel how _fantastic_ a job he's doing. Really great."

"I'm sure he'll be honoured by your praise."

The fact that he'd missed the sarcasm didn't even dent me anymore. I shook my head and pointed the next turn, leading the growing procession down the halls. At any other time, we'd have probably been spotted by the women by now, but I guess with a large amount of them making up the army in the South, we were getting an easier run of things.

I knew that wouldn't last. Even assuming we faced no challenge on our route to the North Wing, we'd eventually reach our destination and set up camp, and then everyone would expect the next stage of my master plan.

Which meant it was probably a good time to start piecing together a master plan.

 _Why did Ozpin make me a team leader again?_

/-/

It was inevitable that our good fortune wouldn't hold, and not just in the case of my having somehow accrued forty-five followers by the time we reached the boundary between the West and North Wings. There were essentially two ways to cross; either through the main Academy building, which obviously acted as a bridging point between everything, or over the open gardens and training fields between the two wings. The main building was obviously far more dangerous given that it housed places like the cafeteria, library, and the largest and most hi-tech training rooms, almost all of which were major objective points.

While Russel might normally have had something to say about my audacity winning out, even he wasn't stupid enough to suggest that path.

No, the obvious route was across the gardens, which would put us between the two buildings and in plain sight of anyone who wanted to look our way. That wasn't necessarily a problem since we were obvious enough as it was. There was a bigger problem.

"It looks like they've set up a checkpoint," Yatsuhashi said, crouching low beside Ren and I, and yet somehow managing to look like he was still standing. How he'd managed to fit himself behind the bush, I had no idea.

"It's the obvious path between the two wings," Ren said. "I'm not sure if they're looking for us specifically or not, but this has Weiss' handwriting all over it."

"You mean because it's so organised?" I asked.

"No." Ren pointed to a small patrol of women approaching, who were stopped by others. They brought out their scrolls, and one of those at the checkpoint consulted a clipboard. "I mean the fact that she would somehow see the need to introduce paperwork to something like this. They're clearly female. Why ask for ID?"

"At least that saves us from some kind of `dress like a girl` plan," I said, hoping some humour would make the situation look better. It really didn't.

I took out my scroll and held the camera towards the checkpoint, using the zoom function like an improvised telescope. The checkpoint itself consisted of around thirty-five women, and the patrol an additional ten. To make matters worse, I could see several girls stationed in the windows around the area, watching from afar, possibly with long-range weaponry. We had the numbers advantage, but that wasn't what concerned me most.

It was Ruby. Ruby concerned me more than many of the others in the area, least of all because she was a ticking time bomb.

I'll be frank, Ruby was great – both as a person and as a huntress – but she wasn't the _strongest_ by far. Sure, she could beat me any day, but that wasn't hard. Compared to some others, however, and the numbers we had, I didn't think she would be a problem.

But if we _hurt_ Ruby? If we made her upset?

Hell, if she so much as _bruised_ …

We were dead.

Dead meat. It wouldn't even be just Yang, or even Weiss or Blake – but the rumours would persist long after this was over. _"Oh, look at him. Did you know he ordered a huge group of men to attack a fifteen-year-old girl? I know, right? How cruel!"_

"Is there any chance we can go around?" I asked. "I don't like our odds here."

"We'd have to pass through the main academy building," Yatsuhashi said, "or back through the Southern Wing and around the entire academy. That would take a long time, not to mention it would send us back into the jaws of the other army."

"They've probably noticed we're missing now, and they'll have split into two forces to try and pincer us," Ren added. "We're on a time limit, and we've been moving slowly due to all the supplies we're lugging. Our pace has been cautious at best. Theirs won't be."

So, they were coming up behind us was what he was saying. I swallowed my fear and looked ahead again, wondering what we could do. If the boundaries hadn't been set earlier, we could have taken our chances with the Grimm and looped through the Emerald Forest. With so many people, that wouldn't have even been a dangerous plan. Sadly, Ozpin had thought of that, and Glynda Goodwitch awaited if we dared. I doubted anyone would follow me into that minefield.

 _(And he would be right. Miss Goodwitch had spent the better part of a decade perfecting her persona, and such time was not wasted. Few were the men who dared stand against her, and I have heard rumours even General Ironwood is not counted in their number.)_

"What do we do?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"I'll defer to your judgment, Jaune," Ren added.

Those damn cowards! Putting the decision on me like that. Well, it wasn't like I hadn't expected it, and a part of me knew better than to try and put it on Cardin, who would surely call for a charge against the checkpoint. While combat was a very possible reality, I wanted to avoid it if possible. Even if we won, all we did was advertise our presence.

Did we chance the main building? I glanced towards it, teasing my lower lip. It was a crazy move, but wasn't there some advantage to that? I'd read comics where tactics so crazy the enemy never expected them worked, but something told me that was reserved to fantasy and fiction. Even if the girls had sent out a hundred to the South Wing, and fifty to both the West and East, that would still leave a sizeable force behind, most of which would be sat in their HQ. To make matters worse, I'd only seen Yang, Blake, Weiss and Coco in that army, which meant that with Ruby being here, Pyrrha and Nora would be in the cafeteria.

I didn't fancy our odds if we ran into Pyrrha _and_ a group of girls. Her moniker as the invincible girl might have been exaggerated, but not by much. She regularly thrashed entire teams in training.

 _The main building is out of the question. But if fighting these people is as well, then what can we do? There's no way I can disguise my way in. Ruby would recognise me, and might actually laugh herself unconscious, which could work, but that's kind of the whole point of us avoiding capture in the first place._

I did not need a cute girl laughing at my misfortune, and yes, I considered Ruby a [ **REDACTED** ] girl. I actually thought she was quite [ **REDACTED** ], and had the situation been different I might have [ **REDACTED** ]. Sue me. So long as Yang never found out or read my journal, I was safe.

 _(I have taken the necessary precautions for my good friend here. Yang will never know.)_

With a forlorn sigh, I turned back to my two advisors. "Get everyone together and be ready to appear on the edge of the gardens," I said. "I want everyone visible and ready to fight if needs be."

"I shall tell them," Yatsuhashi said. "What about you?"

I wanted to say I'd be with them, or more realistically shouting my support from the back. I really wanted that, but at the same time, I wanted to make it to the safety of the North Wing more. Deep inside, I knew there was only one way I was going to manage that, and much to my horror, it was going to involve some bravery.

Specifically, the stupid kind of bravery.

"I'm going to negotiate with her."

/-/

And so it was that under the morning sun of the third day, I walked out into the warm air with my head held high and my stomach hanging somewhere around my ankles. I'm sure it didn't look that way, since I'd fixed an expression that might have looked like firm discipline on my face. In reality it was the kind of shellshock one feels when walking to your death, but it might have passed at a distance for courage.

The girls noticed me almost immediately, and several reached for weapons, pointing in my direction and fanning out as though they expected me to launch some kind of Remnant-shattering laser from my mouth.

As it was, I held up my true weapon before me.

"Arf!" Zwei barked, suspended from my hands. His stubby tail wagged happily.

"Zwei!"

Yes, good. That's right. Good old predictable Ruby. She'd recognise her beloved pet at any distance, and quickly realise what was going on. True to my suspicions, she held a hand out, urging everyone to stay behind while she approached on her own.

It was a strange feeling, watching a girl walking towards me and realising we were about to speak. Apart from curses, threats and the banter from Nora, I'd not had a real conversation with a girl for days, nor had Ruby with a man, I imagined. I idly wondered if the forums would be alive with news of this within an hour or two, and whether they'd have some dramatic name for it.

 _(Yes. It would come to be called "The Meeting at the Gates".)_

As an unnatural calm descended on us, Ruby and I finally met, only three metres or so of grass and air separating us. To my relief, she'd left Crescent Rose in its undeployed form on her back. To my even greater relief, she smiled at me.

"Hey, Jaune."

"Hi, Ruby. How's it going?"

"Eh, you know." She shrugged. "Just looking after this area, I guess. It's a bit boring, but if it's for that reward, it's okay. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm great," I said. I nodded behind me, to the horde of men I knew had just started to present themselves. I knew because of the way the girls at the checkpoint tensed and drew weapons. "Just leading some guys over to the North Wing. Hey, do you mind if we pass through?"

Ruby's apologetic smile was answer enough. "Weiss would bite my head off if I did."

"You won't chance it?" I asked. "Not even for me?"

"You were my first friend at Beacon, and you're probably still my best guy-friend, but yeah, not even for you. Yang and Blake would be angry, too. I'm…" Ruby hesitated. "I'm going to have to take you in, Jaune. But don't worry," she hurried. "Everyone we capture is looked after. They get food, shared rooms, TV, even sweets and stuff. You'll be okay."

Good old Ruby. Even now with us on opposite sides of the war, she was thinking of my safety. I loved her for that, I really did. But I needed to get through. We couldn't be captured, not with Nora desperate to play dress-up with us.

"I _could_ make a deal, though. If you surrendered, I could let the others through." Ruby smiled happily, and her eyes lit up. "I'd make sure you were okay, and I could protect you from Weiss. We could play video games and read comics… it would be great!"

"And could you keep Nora away from me?" I asked.

Ruby blanched.

"I thought not."

"Well, if it helps I think you might look cute in a dress?"

It didn't help, but I appreciated her effort. A more self-sacrificial man than I might have taken it for the betterment of the tribe. I was not that man. "No deal, Ruby."

"Aww…"

"How are you even in charge of all these people?" I asked, stalling for time and hoping for inspiration to strike. "Most of them are older than you. Even if you're a team leader, it's kind of weird."

"How are you?" Ruby countered, and truer scepticism had never been uttered. She giggled and answered before I could, however. "But yeah, you mean how they'd follow someone so young? I was kinda surprised too, but Pyrrha put me in charge and I guess no one minds. It's not like this is life or death, right? It's easier to all be on the same side and win 2,500 lien each. Anyway," Ruby smiled and reached for her weapon. "Are we going to fight? We could make it a duel between you and me so that no one else has to get hurt. How does that sound?"

Terrible. Awful. Other non-agreeable adjectives. I might as well fight an avalanche for all the good it would do me.

In desperation, I threw up my canine shield.

"Let us through, Ruby. You don't want Zwei to suffer the consequences otherwise."

"Jaune…"

"I'll do it, Ruby. Don't think I won't. I'm a man on the edge – on the edge of my sanity at the moment."

"Jaune…"

"Don't make me a monster, Ruby," I hissed, clutching Zwei's snout.

Ruby sighed. "You're not going to hurt Zwei, Jaune."

"How can you be so sure?" I threatened.

"Uh, because you're _you_?" She giggled. "You wouldn't hurt him. Not in a million years."

Shit…

She'd called my bluff.

Come to think of it, trying to bluff to someone who was basically your best friend probably wasn't a good idea in the first place, especially not when it was on something so utterly out-of-character for me. I looked down to Zwei, who looked back up with adorable and loving eyes. My heart melted. Damn it, Zwei. Why did he have to look like that?

"I won't attack you now," Ruby said, putting Crescent Rose back. "We're friends, so I'll let you join your guys before we fight. That's fair, right? I want to give you a chance."

"Yeah," I said, feeling my spirits drop. "Thanks, Ruby."

Ruby smiled and skipped away. Before she had gotten more than three paces away, she turned back. "Hey, Jaune."

"Yeah?"

She swallowed nervously. "We're still friends, right?"

The question was so random, but also so Ruby, that I couldn't help but smile. "Of course we are," I said. "Don't be silly, crater-face."

"Vomit-boy!" Ruby returned, giggling. Her smile looked a little more honest. "I'll give it my all, Jaune. You better get ready, because I won't go easy on you."

"Yeah," I whispered, aware that the moment she left, all chances of a non-violent outcome to this would be lost. It would be nothing like anything we had ever fought before, which had been small skirmishes and stumbling scraps at best. This would be a battle, a true battle.

And worse, it would be a battle on a time-limit. Ruby had reinforcements en route, and they'd only be coming all the faster since one of her people must have called this in to the main command by now. Pyrrha would have diverted Yang, or might even be coming herself.

We were out of options.

I was out of options.

"Hey, Ruby," I called, and waited for her to turn around. "Catch!"

Zwei let out a frantic bark as he sailed through the air. Ruby yelped and dropped her weapon to catch him, cuddling the little thing to her chest as she looked to me, no doubt to ask what on Remnant I was doing. She didn't get the chance, since the moment she looked up, my body impacted her midriff, and I swept her up into my arms. Ruby shrieked in equal parts shock and embarrassment, her legs kicking wildly as I secured her against me, one hand on the back of her knees, the other below her shoulders.

"Jaune!" she yelped, and I could practically feel her red cheeks against my chest. "W-What are you doing? Let go! Help! Someone help meee!"

"Don't drop Zwei!" I said, hoping she'd listen to me, or to her own fear of dropping the poor thing. In a fight, Ruby had all kinds of advantages over me, but those required her feet to be on the ground, and her hands to be free. Take those away and we were on even terms, as embarrassing as it was to admit. "You're my prisoner now. Let us through and I'll return you to-"

"He's captured Ruby!" one of the girls yelled.

"Save her!" another shrieked. "Quick! Before Yang finds out!"

"Wait," I shouted, holding Ruby before me like some kind of shield. I tried to raise my voice, but between Ruby's yelps, Zwei's frantic barking and the girls all panicking and shouting between one another, my voice was drowned out. "Let us through and I'll return Ruby to you," I called, trying anyway. "Let us through. No one has to get hurt!"

"He going to hurt her!"

"I didn't _say_ that!"

It was no use. As one, arms were drawn, and a tall girl pointed a spear towards me. "Charge!" she yelled.

"Let me down…" Ruby wailed.

I wasn't about to do that, nor was I about to stand there and take a charge from a force like that with my hands full of Ruby Rose. Instead, I turned and fled towards my own lines, Ruby bumping against my chest and Zwei riding on hers. My intent was only to get back to relative safety, but that wasn't how the men behind me took it. I should have known, really, and naturally there was _one_ particular figure at the front, his armour gleaming brightly.

"It's begun," Cardin roared. "Our Warchief strikes the first blow. To Jaune, men! For Jaune and all mankind!"

"Rarghhh!" the horde cried, charging forwards.

My heart leapt into my throat. It was a disaster, and the exact thing I'd been trying my hardest to avoid. If the battle lines met, it would be a disaster. The fight would be a protracted one, and even if we won, I wasn't sure how many people would be fit and ready to move. The numbers were too even, and the girls were fresh and prepared, while my forces were tired from marching across the school. There was no way we would win…

A loud horn rent the air.

The women paused, hands clutched to ears, even as the guys did the same and I wished I could, as well. I cringed instead, not alone in my misery as Ruby tried to press Zwei against her face to block out the low, droning sound. Was that an air horn?

Yes, it was.

But it did not come from our lines. It did not come from the women's, either, but rather from behind them – from the North Wing. I looked that way, as did everyone else, the girls pausing to see what had made the horrible sound.

My mouth fell open.

"This is our time!" Sun Wukong cried, one foot on a rock and his bare abs revealed to the world. In his left hand, he held an air horn, though I had no idea where he'd found it. In his right, his staff stood. But behind him..?

Behind him stood twenty-five or more men – all armed to the teeth.

Caught between the two forces, the girls warily grouped closer together, forming a tight circle. I even saw those snipers from earlier missing, now replaced with bedraggled and hungry boys lining the windows. Not many, but enough to deal with those standing guard. They watched with gleaming eyes, and a stillness descended on the air.

But how? What was going on?

Everything we knew pointed to the boys in the North Wing being as disjointed and disorganised as any other, tiny groups and teams sticking together, but otherwise holding no kind of organisation or desire to group up. As Ruby whispered her own shock against my chest, I couldn't help but agree. This was unreal. It was impossible.

"For too long have we wallowed in fear and solitude!" Sun shouted, the three other members of Team SSSN beside him, all looking the worse for wear, but no less determined for it. "For too long have we been trodden down and defeated. No more. Today, we change that. Today, we make our stand." He blasted the horn again, and then slowly raised his staff, pointing it towards the heavens. "For new hope! For freedom!" He raised his head and let out a mighty battle cry. "For the Warchief!"

"For the Warchief!" the men behind him, and those lining the windows, roared.

The staff fell, pointing at the now vastly outnumbered girls.

"CHARGE!"

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **Scribbled note found in abandoned diary**

 **Anonymous**

* * *

 _I didn't know what I expected. I'd heard the rumours, but who hadn't by this point? It wasn't the first time someone had tried to unite the guys into a single force, and it probably wouldn't be the last. One of my teammates tries, and the girls descended on him like dark shadows, the Kunoichi of Love – who dispensed very little of it – had taken him. I hadn't seen him since, and had been left to scrounge and scavenge alone._

 _I suppose it was morbid curiosity which summoned me and the same again that had me risking what little safety I had to press my nose against the glass and watch the scene unfold._

 _And then, as the morning mist departed, I saw them._

 _Their numbers were nothing impressive, though I'll admit to the shock at seeing so many men in one place. There was somewhere between forty and fifty, and they carried a large array of supplies that had my stomach grumbling. Until that point, I'd dismissed all the rumours as nothing but optimistic garbage. An army of women a hundred strong sent to find him, a horde of men allied under one banner, and success claiming a supply drop?_

 _Madness, I thought, and yet to see them there and that proof of it, I felt humbled. Humbled, and also – if I dared to admit it – a little hopeful._

 _Had they really succeeded?_

 _Were the women truly afraid of them – of him?_

 _I couldn't be sure, but I found myself pressing a little closer, hands joining my nose, and my breath misting the glass. I had to see more. I had to know more. I don't think I even noticed others joining me, not at least until someone gasped and I looked around to see almost six other men watching alongside me._

 _I thought to run before they noticed me, but I was spellbound before I could. I was bound because HE appeared._

 _It was just one man. I had no idea why I felt so quietened by him. He didn't even look that impressive. But as he walked out alone towards the army of girls, I couldn't help but breathe a little heavier. There were so many of them, and yet he walked out alone without a care in the world. Why? How? They would surely capture him!_

 _And yet they didn't. To my ever-lasting shock, the girls did not attack, but rather they sent one of their own to meet him, one that I recognised. Ruby Rose – the Red Reaper. They said that her appearance was a herald of death, for while she did not fight the hardest, she was the perfect scout and none could escape her. If she found you, she would hunt you until her allies came, and so like the Grim Reaper himself, her presence heralded defeat and death._

 _But he faced her – and she faced him._

 _She faced him like an equal._

 _And then, it struck me. He was an equal. Jaune Arc was their equal. The reason why they did not attack was because they were cautious, and that was something the girls had never needed to be before now. Before him._

 _Even though I was up in a corridor and away from combat, I licked my lips and reached for my weapon – to this point unused. I felt like I was a part of his battle-lines, ready for the onslaught and the fight for freedom. For respect. For all the things we had given up._

 _For the first time in so long, I felt alive._

 _I felt like a Huntsman._

 _A warrior._

 _And when a hand fell on my shoulder, and I looked up into the face of Sun Wukong, I did not flee as I might once have before._

" _Come," he said._

" _Where?" I asked._

" _We are going down there," he said, voice loud enough for all in the corridor to hear. "We're tired of hiding away and hunting for scraps. If we're going to be beaten, then we've decided we want it to be on our terms."_

" _We're going to fight," Neptune said, standing proudly beside his partner. "Come with us."_

 _I was afraid. I was just one man. I was weak. I'd already run and hid while my partner was taken before my eyes. And yet I pushed back from the window. I pushed back from defeat, and with a shaking hand did I draw my weapon._

 _My body did not shake with fear._

 _It shook with excitement._

 _It shook with hope._

 _They had my answer. And the answers of all those behind, who felt their own spirits return, that pride and honour which had once drawn us to dedicate our lives to the war against an innumerable, impossible foe. What Huntsmen were we if we laid down and accepted defeat now? I did not know – nor would I ever again._

 _In a way, the insurrection had always been there, both in myself and the others around me._

 _All it had been waiting for was a single spark._

* * *

 **And so, the glory of Jaune continues – all of it at least** _ **technically**_ **due to his genius. And a little to Nora's perhaps, but then again that was only because Jaune outsmarted her. Oh, and Sun – because even the boys need some artillery every now and then.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 25** **th** **November**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is something of the end of the first arc of the story – although the story itself won't have too many in total. Some have asked and I don't normally answer, but the Beacon Civil War** _ **is**_ **only for five days, and no, it won't continue after it… at least the war won't, and the story will end soon after.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – The Founding**

"A man is nothing without a home to call his own, a place to hang his sword and shield, and at least ten different ways of keeping the women out."

 **Lieutenant Sky Lark of the Home Guard**

* * *

The battle was over before it really began, with numerous women sprawled out in various states of drained aura in the garden between the North and West wings of Beacon. Some groaned for aid, while others simply growled threats at men they recognised. Of all of them, only Ruby was unharmed, and that was because she was still in my arms, staring slack-jawed at the remnants of her once-proud force, a force that had been wiped out in mere minutes.

It wouldn't have been of course, if not for the interruption of at least twenty or so people attacking from behind, and those people stared at me now, as Sun and Neptune walked with their team towards us. They seemed proud of themselves, inordinately so, and I couldn't help but notice how their outfits were a little dirtier than usual, suggesting that much like us they'd not have the easiest time of surviving outside of the women's grasp.

Cardin took a step forward to stand beside me, and I noticed his hand reach down to his weapon in warning. "Hold," I whispered. "I think at this point they just want to talk."

"We do," Sun said, overhearing and making his team hold as well. He stepped forward alone to face me, and I, seeing no other option, stepped forward to stand before him.

It might have been an epic scene of two generals meeting, but I had a feeling the fifteen-year-old girl and corgi in my arms ruined it somewhat.

"So, the rumours are true," Sun said. "I didn't believe it at first, you know. You're a pretty cool guy, but leading an army of men against the girls…? Even I didn't think you were that brave."

"Me neither," I said. "It's… complicated."

"Heh. Sounds like it. Still, I didn't come here to fight but when I saw you walking out there to face Ruby on your own? I was impressed."

And wasn't that an unfortunate thing to have said about me, that I'd somehow impressed Sun Wukong by standing up to a girl two years my junior. Said girl huffed from my arms, whispering somehow about how she couldn't believe it either. Poor Ruby… she'd really had a stroke of bad luck on this one.

 _(Which, considering our constant bad luck, felt deserved at this point.)_

"I didn't have much of a choice," I said, turning back to Sun. "We had an army on our tail. Still do, actually, and our only hope was to make it through to the North Wing."

"So I hear. News travels fast, especially when it comes to you. For what it's worth, the girls chasing after you split into two forces, one going East and the other West around Beacon. We've been getting reports on the forums from people spotting them."

"We?"

"My team and I." He gestured to them. "We made our home in the North Wing. Nothing special, just a room we took over and hid in. Things… haven't been easy for us. The North is pretty much firmly under their control, and no one even dares to challenge them." Sun grinned. "Well, before you, that was. Shaking up the status quo like this? That's pretty crazy, Jaune."

"Trust me, I know."

"But you know what? I like that." Sun threw back his head and laughed, and despite his poor circumstances a little bit of light seemed to come back to him, sparkling off his abs. "I'm tired of being run over, man. I'm tired of being afraid, of hiding, of wondering whether it might be better to give up and let myself get captured. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about food. I'm sick and tired of all of that, and most of all, I'm sick of not fighting back."

To my surprise, and then to my horror, Sun swept one foot back and lowered himself down onto one knee. I wasn't sure who looked more surprised; me or Ruby, but we both stared at the guy as he held a hand to his heart and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I, Sun Wukong, do hereby pledge my loyalty and allegiance to Jaune Arc – Warchief and Ruler of all Free Men."

"You don't have to do that!" I hissed. I went ignored.

Behind him, his team, Neptune, Sage and Scarlet, each fell to one knee, each mimicked their leader's pose and each added their own voices. They were drowned out however by the horde behind them, a horde that were all now down on their knees.

"No way…" Ruby whispered.

"My thoughts exactly," I groaned.

"More men for our forces," Cardin said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. He, at least, seemed thrilled at the additions. "I've told Sky and Dove to outfit them all with some food to keep morale up, and I'm sure Russel will get a few more eager ears when we break camp."

"We should keep moving though," Ren said. "Victorious or not, we have people on our trail and this may have attracted its own commotion." He nodded to the women about us. He also nodded to the one in my arms. "What are we going to do about Ruby?"

"W-What is that supposed to mean?" my prisoner asked nervously.

"We can't just let her go," Cardin said, arms crossed. "She'll run straight to the others, and considering her Semblance, she'll get there a lot sooner than we want. We could drain her aura or knock her out and leave her here."

"No," I said, cutting the idea off instantly. Ruby was my friend and I wasn't about to do that, but there was another concern behind it. "What do you think Yang will do if she finds out we hurt her sister like that? Forget the civil war; we'll have a rampage on our hands. Do you want to deal with that?"

He didn't, of course. No one did.

"Ruby is my prisoner," I said, settling on the only available option. "We're taking her with us."

"Is that wise?" Ren asked. "What will Yang say if we have her?"

"What will Yang say if we _don't_?" I countered.

"Good point."

"Uh, not for nothing," said our prisoner, "but the rules say I'm only a prisoner if I'm disarmed or beaten. And I'm not." Ruby pushed Zwei down onto her stomach and reached for Crescent Rose, her eyes narrowed.

I had to act quick to avoid violence, which Ruby would surely lose as outnumbered as she was – but which we'd surely regret later when Yang, Blake and Weiss found out. Luckily, I had an edge; a simple trick I remembered Yang showing us once before.

"Zwei," I called, voice high-pitched. "Kisses!"

The corgi's ears perked up – and he stuck his face into Ruby's before she could so much as gasp in shock. Seconds later she was reduced to giggles and protests as she futilely flapped at her face. "Zwei, no. Zwei, you traito-splrf. Staaahp!"

"Got it," Sun said, stealing Crescent Rose and tossing it back to Neptune.

"And now you're disarmed," I said, smiling as Ruby managed to get hold of Zwei and hold him back against her chest. She scowled up at me but the dog slobber diminished tis effects somewhat.

"You cheated," she accused.

"And you're now my prisoner," I replied. "Sun, do you have somewhere we can all retreat to? I don't really want us stuck out here in the open."

My newest ally nodded.

"I know a place."

/-/

The place, as it turned out, was where it had all begun for me. Not the civil war but Beacon itself, and as we crowded into the auditorium I was hit with a barrage of memories. Even now I didn't understand the true meaning of the headmaster's speech, and had started to wonder if it had meaning at all. The guy was weird enough as it was, and so one couldn't rule out the chance he'd simply thrown something misleading out into the audience and trusted them to think up their own interpretation.

"Is it safe here?" I asked Sun. It was a wide and open room, not to mention a prominent one that everyone knew about, girls included.

"The auditorium isn't an objective point in the war so there's nothing to worry about," Sun replied, "and the girls don't care about it because it's too open and there's no value. No guys either, to be fair," he went on, "but you've got a lot of people, so I figured you needed someplace big."

He was right there, since we were now closer to seventy in number. My initial plan of taking over a couple of dorm rooms for us was clearly out of the question. As it was I nodded to Cardin and left it to him to arrange the newcomers and get them settled. I'd already seen Russel doing the same, albeit with a preaching tone I didn't want to get anywhere near. I could ignore that so long as I pretended it wasn't happening.

Ren, Sun and I took the time to explore the area and check all the entrances, of which there were four into the auditorium, though the one at the back was more of a staff-entrance, and the one Ozpin and Glynda had retreated to after his speech. There was another door leading off that but it was locked and clearly marked as off-limits. Still, that left a relatively plush staff area with three or four couches, a table, and a smaller room off to the side – all of which was kept separate from the main hall itself.

"I guess this could be your command area," Ren said, looking around. "If we hold any important meetings here, then we won't be disturbed and there's less chance of the noise outside interrupting."

"Jaune should sleep here," Sun agreed. "The rest of us and everyone else can stay outside in the hall."

"Are you sure?" I asked, though not with any great reluctance. We all had sleeping bags and I knew they'd be stealing mattresses from nearby rooms, but the offer of one all to myself was still overly generous. At the very least, I would have been happy to share it with Ren.

 _(And while I appreciate the gesture, considering who Jaune had taken prisoner; I did not want to be anywhere near him at that moment.)_

"You're the leader, so you should have a room to yourself," Sun said. "I'll bunk outside with my team, but I think it's important people know you're different."

"Isn't that arrogant?" I asked.

"Think of it more as being a role model," Ren said, dispelling my concerns with an easy smile. "You're not taking a room to yourself out of selfishness, but instead to boost morale."

I realised why almost immediately. If I slept with the others then that meant I was one of them, which might have seemed like a good thing at first glance. A leader who appreciated and interacted with his people was a good leader, right? Well, yes and no. They didn't _want_ me to be a good leader. They wanted me to be a legendary one. They wanted me to be _more_ than just a normal person; they wanted me to be superhuman.

I wasn't, of course. And every second I spent with them would only prove that, creating doubt within the ranks. If I kept to myself, however, I'd be more mysterious and unknown and they could look at me and make up their own minds.

It was ridiculous, but the two of them had a point.

"Okay, fine. I'll take these for myself."

Ren nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but the door adjoining the room to the auditorium opened after a swift knock. Dove poked his head in, his face a little panicked. "Um, sir? We have a bit of a problem outside."

Fear lanced through me. "Girls?"

"Girl," he corrected. "As in Ruby, sir. We… uh… don't know what to do with her."

The scene outside proved as much, for the only one willing to stand next to Ruby was Neptune, and probably because he wanted her to tell Weiss how much of a gentleman he'd been. I made a mental note to stop _that_ from happening again, since the only one Ruby would be waxing about to my sweet Snow Angel was _me_.

 _(Sigh…)_

Still, there were a lot of men shooting Ruby strange looks. Not _those_ kinds, thankfully, but something between curiosity, irritation and smug satisfaction. She did her best to ignore it all, but Ruby had never been the best at being the centre of attention, and being the only girl in a hall full of guys probably wasn't helping. It would only get worse when everyone had to go to sleep and she needed to change… or use the bathroom… or take a shower.

"What should we do with her?" one guy asked. I didn't recognise him, but he glared at Ruby like the war was her fault. He'd probably lost someone to her.

"We should make her wait on us," someone suggested, laughing at his own idea.

"Sing and dance," another called, whistling.

Ruby's cheeks darkened, and she huddled in on herself. That was the last straw and I stomped forward, pulling her behind my arm and glowering at the crowd. They might not have been overly serious, but Ruby wasn't good at telling that and looked about ready to faint.

"You won't be doing anything with her," I said, voice raised so that everyone could hear. "She isn't _your_ prisoner; she's _my_ prisoner."

The distinction seemed to shock the assembled host, who whispered between themselves. I heard things like "Jaune's girl" and "personal prisoner", but didn't really understand what they meant and ignored them. At the very least none of them challenged the idea, and I tugged Ruby to one side. She followed along happily, eager to get out of the limelight.

"She'll be staying in my quarters and none of you are to come in, okay? If I hear that you bothered her, I'll… you won't want to know what I'll do." Mostly because I didn't know, and I'd never been good with threats. They were useless when you clearly didn't have the muscle or skill to back them up. "Come on, Ruby," I whispered, drawing her along. "You'll be bunking with me."

She let out a breath of relief. "Thanks…"

Once we were back in our room, I had Ruby sit down on a chair and turned to Ren. Sun was missing, and a brief questioning look was enough for my teammate to understand. "He's gone out to fortify the entrances to the hall. He took some guys with him to help."

"Fortifying the hall? How's that going to work?"

"Mostly just upturned tables, chairs and things like that," he said, shrugging. "It's not a bad idea, even if all it does is slow the girls down."

That was a good point and a good idea from Sun too. It might not let us even the odds against what was still a vastly superior force, but if it gave us the chance to retreat or prepare ourselves then it would be welcome. If nothing else, it would give me chance to flee like a coward when the time came.

"Are you going to keep Ruby in here with you?" Ren asked, nodding to her.

"That's the plan. There's plenty of room, so Ruby can have one couch and I'll take another." I didn't see any issue with us bunking like that and neither did Ren. Team JNPR were co-ed, after all, and it wasn't really any different from when all the guys and girls had slept in the auditorium together. "I think we need to check the rules for prisoners first though," I added. "I'm not sure what we're meant to do with her, but I'd rather not run afoul of Miss Goodwitch."

"And I don't know what I'm meant to do as a prisoner," Ruby admitted.

"Don't you have loads of men as prisoners?"

"Yeah, but I never thought _I'd_ be one." She lowered her voice and mumbled, "Yang is never going to let me live this down…"

She probably wouldn't, though I imagined she didn't know yet, and wouldn't for a few more hours. I dreaded what would happen when she found out, but I at least figured she wouldn't attack straight away for fear of putting Ruby in danger. That gave us time, and Ren and I used that time to pour over the rules of the war that Ozpin had sent to our scrolls.

It was fairly simple, and highlighted the simulated nature of the war. As a prisoner, Ruby was now classed as a non-combatant and a POW, which meant that she couldn't actually leave my side until she was either `freed` by another girl or released by us. She couldn't even affect an escape of her own, and that was probably included to stop the war getting complicated as hell and requiring either side to actually lock-up their prisoners. It meant we wouldn't have to tie up or restrain her, and that meant less risk from the teacher's points of view, because keeping the rules simple meant we couldn't mess them up in some way.

It also meant the guys who were prisoners were pretty much in the same boat; perfectly safe, but unable to escape because the rules prevented it.

"On our end, we have to care for and feed her – and there's a minimum requirement for food or we have to release her and let her escape. If we don't, the teachers will end our participation in the war immediately and… it just says Miss Goodwitch will take care of us," Ren said.

"That's all it needs to say," I groaned. "I doubt anyone will dare find out the specifics."

Ren agreed with a nod. "It's all fairly straight forward, though. I guess they didn't want to make it too complicated with ways to escape or keep prisoners locked away."

"So, I'm stuck here," Ruby sighed, chin in her hands as she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Aw, I was thinking how I could grab Crescent Rose and make a run for it."

"Straight into Miss Goodwitch's hands," I pointed out, prompting a shiver from her. "You should be glad we checked the rules before you broke them."

She laughed. "Good point. So, what now? Do I just sit here until the war is over?"

"I guess so," I said, looking to Ren.

He had a contemplative expression on his face. "We _could_ interrogate her," he said.

"I'm pretty sure that would earn Miss Goodwitch's attention."

"We wouldn't do anything against the rules. I just mean that we could ask questions about how the women's forces are organised, who is in command… things like that." He glanced to Ruby and then turned back to me to whisper quietly, "That kind of information could be useful, especially if we know what areas to avoid when looking for food."

"Good point," I whispered back, "but what's to say she'll tell us?"

"It can't hurt to ask."

"Why are you two whispering?" my prisoner asked.

It was a long shot, but Ren had a point, so I shrugged and turned back to Ruby, posing some questions to her. She blinked and listened to them, but cocked her head to the side and giggled when I was done.

"I'm not answering any of those things. I'm not going to betray them."

"She's very loyal," Ren said.

"It's not that," Ruby countered. "But can you imagine how much Weiss would complain if I told you anything?" She groaned into her hands. "I'd be hearing about it for weeks. She'd never stop."

I had to laugh at that. Out of everyone, Ruby felt like the one I could relate to the most, if only because it felt like her participation in the war was as on-sufferance as my own. She wanted the reward money for winning, but otherwise saw it as a five-day holiday with a little combat sprinkled in. I liked that, I really did.

But that didn't mean I couldn't be a cruel bastard when required, and right now the prospect of knowing about how the enemy operated – at least in terms of how I could use that knowledge to benefit myself – was winning out over my compassion. I stepped forward and placed both hands on the armrests on either side of her, towering over Ruby's form.

"Answer our questions, Ruby," I said. "Don't force my hand."

Ruby didn't look particularly intimidated, which made sense considering who was trying to intimidate her. "Or what?" she asked, smiling. "You can't do anything. It's against the rules."

"What if I don't care about rules?" I threatened.

"You do," she said. "Jaune, are we really doing the bluffing thing again? I, uh, kinda know you pretty well. I know you're not dumb enough to make Miss Goodwitch angry." She shuddered and lowered her voice. "No one is…"

She had a point, but I wasn't done yet and stood back up with a smile. "Who said anything about upsetting her?" I asked. "I was actually thinking about the exact wording of them. It says we have to feed you, but not _what_ we have to feed you."

Ruby looked a little more worried, but quickly recovered. "You can't starve me," she said. "You'd get in trouble."

"You're my friend, Ruby. I wouldn't do that to you."

She let out a breath of relief.

"In fact, I only have your best interests at heart," I continued, smiling victoriously. "That is why I've concocted a special menu for you. Ren, take a note; Ruby is to be fed four meals a day. Plenty of fruit and vegetables, mineral water, porridge, salad – make sure they're nice, healthy and balanced meals rich in vitamins and minerals."

The girl's face had become progressively whiter with every aspect I listed off, and she stared at me with her mouth wide open. It was a look I didn't recognise, but slowly realised was the kind of disbelief a patient would show if they'd just been told their tooth ache was a terminal disease and they had twenty minutes to live.

"And dessert?" Ren asked, smiling. He'd no doubt seen my plan.

 _(And it was quite the devious plan. I wonder if it would work on Nora with pancakes…?)_

"No dessert," I said, and Ruby flinched like I'd just backhanded her across the face. "She's going to be stuck in here without much exercise, and the rules say I need to treat her well. Wouldn't want all those calories affecting her, right?"

"N-No," she stammered. "It's okay… I can take them…"

"No sugar, either," I added, ignoring her high-pitched whine. "Her teeth might rot."

"That's a shame," Ren said, but marked the note off on his scroll nonetheless. "We did get a lot of chocolate and sweets from the supply drop. I guess we'll just have to share them with the guys. Maybe someone would be willing to trade Ruby's portion of sweets for their chicken salad."

"Noooo!" Ruby cried, shaking in her seat. "Jaune, you can't!"

"I can't?" I asked. "Why not?"

"B-Because I'll tell Yang!"

"That I put you on a healthy diet? Tell her that and she might leave you here for the whole war. She's been trying to cut down your sugar intake for weeks." It was true, and Ruby looked paler at the realisation.

"You wouldn't… I'm your friend! I was your first friend!"

"That's why I'm looking out for you," I said. "Heart disease is a real risk, you know." I looked to Ren and smiled. "Of course, if I were distracted with other things, I might not be able to pay attention to making your meals as healthy as possible. What do you think would distract me like that, Ren?"

"Probably details a leader like you would need to focus on," he said, nodding sagely. "Things like how the women's infrastructure is organised, or who is in command. Simple things like that."

Ruby's eyes flickered between the two of us.

Her face twisted as she fought some internal war. She was strong-willed and dedicated, and in any other situation she might have held firm to her ideals. Ren and I pulling out some candy and eating it in front of her, though?

 _(That was cruel of us, I shall admit…)_

Ruby caved not ten seconds later.

/-/

"Well," Cardin said once Ren and I left Ruby behind with a bar of chocolate, "did you find anything out?"

"Pyrrha's in charge of the women's side with Weiss and Yang operating under her. Blake runs a unit dedicated to quelling and destroying strong men, while Nora does her own thing and Ruby was the main scout. Coco's in charge of the prison."

"Which is the library," Ren said. "It's large and only has two exits, so it's the perfect place to keep people. It's also in the Central Academy and near the cafeteria, right in the heartlands of their empire."

"We found out a few other things, as well," I said, "but that's the main stuff. Ruby answered pretty much any question we had, but there wasn't much I thought we could use."

After all, a lot of the information Ruby gave was interesting, but little else. I wasn't sure we could act on any of it, and whether Pyrrha was in charge or not didn't change all that much about how we were going to proceed. We didn't have the numbers or strength to challenge them directly, and now that we'd taken one of them prisoner they were sure to want to attack us instead. Our best bet was defence, and to my relief, Cardin agreed.

"We've only just found a place to call our own, so we should definitely consolidate for now."

"A lot of the people are tired from moving around," Ren said. "It would do them good to have a rest, no matter how brief."

"They'll get it," I promised. Because frankly, I could use one too.

"Team SSSN are handling the immediate defences and also spreading the word of our new colony," Cardin said, nodding to the side for us to follow. I shrugged and did so, and the three of us walked towards the auditorium.

"Spreading the word of what, exactly?"

"Where we are. Who we are. What our goals are. You. Even aside from the other guys already in the North Wing, there's going to be people spread across Beacon who'll jump at the chance to join us. Not everyone," he admitted, "but any new men are welcome at this point. If you're going to reclaim Beacon from the girls, you'll need as many people as you can get."

"Yeah…"

About that…

"We'll need the supplies to feed them as well," Ren warned.

"There have to be some other guys who have lucked out and found food. They might be willing to share it if they know it's for a cause like this. I'll have Sky check the forums tonight and sent out some posts. Now that we have a base to call our own, we can start to properly plan our counter-attack."

"I might have another solution to the food issue," I said, but didn't expand on it when they looked at me in question. I needed someone to get in touch before I could try it, and until then they were better off not knowing.

Cardin paused to look at me with a wide smile. "You must be eager to finally take the fight to the enemy, Jaune. Holding back all this time can't have been easy."

"Oh, I'm definitely raring to go," I lied. "Can't wait…"

"Me neither!" Cardin, as always, missed my sarcasm. "All your plans are coming to fruition, all your strategies and schemes are finally unfolding, and I can't help but wonder what comes next." He smiled at me. "I'm sure it'll be incredible. Just two days ago we were hungry and starving idiots fighting among one another. Now, this!" He gestured around him, and even I had to admit this was an improvement on what we'd been before. "With numbers we'll soon have, we might even be able to take some of the Objective Points in the North Wing."

"That will certainly draw a response from Pyrrha," Ren warned.

"I'm fairly sure our capturing Ruby is already going to do that," I said. While the idea of competing in the war wasn't one I liked the sound of, taking some of their points might save our bacon. According to Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha were almost wholly focused on objectives and holding them, so if we took one from them, they'd counter-attack to regain it. That was bad, obviously, but it meant I'd know where the counter-attack was going, and so long as it wasn't aimed at _me_ , I was happy.

Whoever I sent to hold the objective could retreat and give it up if needed. The important thing was not letting them have a chance to attack the auditorium and get to me. Plus, I didn't need to get involved and could just tell Cardin to handle it.

"Not to mention we can't stay hidden anymore," Cardin continued. "We're settled now, and we've just won a huge battle against the women. Everyone knows where we are. If they want to attack us, there's nowhere we can go."

"Nowhere left to retreat to," I agreed. While we'd reached the safety of the North Wing as planned, we were now trapped here. "This is our final stand."

"Or the beginning of our counter-attack."

"Or that." I didn't feel confident about it, but if Cardin wanted to, then fine. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"There's some people that want to see you," Cardin said. He brought me to a door and placed one hand upon it. Had I been in my right mind I might have recognised what door it was, but I was distracted with my thoughts about the war and Ruby and stepped up without thinking. As the door was pushed open, the sight beyond was revealed to me – and me to them.

It was the doorway to the main stage; the place where Ozpin had once stood and addressed us all. Now, our positions were reversed, and I could see only an ocean of faces staring at mine. My heart fell into my stomach, but the way back was blocked by Cardin.

"Yatsuhashi figured you should do a speech," he said. "You know, kind of to fire everyone up and mark the official founding of our new home."

"And you didn't think to warn me?" I hissed back.

Cardin shrugged, and had I been twice as tall and three times as strong as I was, I might have punched him for it. I wasn't, however, and froze like a deer in the headlights at being on a stage in front of so many people. Forget seventy; Sun must have already found some stragglers, or others must have made their way here, for there were at _least_ a hundred people in the room. Out of that, I'd say a good 100% were stronger than me, and yet they stood in absolute silence, waiting to hear me speak.

At that exact moment, I'd have rather let Nora dress me up as a princess.

"Here he is," Sun said, holding an arm out towards me as he took centre stage. "The man who has led us here, he who will bring us to a new age. The promised one, the grand strategist, the one every woman in Beacon wants-"

And not even in a way I could be proud of.

"Jaune Arc," he called. "Warchief!"

" **Haa! Haa!** " the crowd chanted. The stage underneath us shook from the force of it.

Before I could think of a way to escape, or even think of something to say, Sun pushed me forward, forcing me to stand in the same spot Ozpin had and before a hundred or so people that thought I was some kind of God. A God of silence, perhaps, since that was all that came out when I opened my mouth to speak. That and a high-pitched croak.

 _What the hell am I supposed to say?_ I had to say something, obviously. Did I try for something inspirational? No, I'd definitely mess that up. Did I go simple? But what if I went too simple and they didn't believe me?

Oh wait, I'd gone with silence and they were starting to whisper among themselves. A quick look to Cardin and Ren offered no help since they were staring at me with wonderment and support respectively. Great help there, guys. Okay, desperation it was. I took a deep breath, stepped forward, and just vomited words out as they came.

"We have arrived in the North Wing." Good start, very factual. We were indeed in the North Wing, so I felt confident I hadn't screwed that up. Now, make a continuation. "But we can go no further. To our North, the Emerald Forest blocks our path. To the East and West are the wings ruled by the women, and to the south – their stronghold. We are completely surrounded."

More facts there, but I had a feeling my inspirational speech wasn't doing much of the inspiring thing, because a few faces were now looking nervous. Had they only just realised this? I mean, wasn't it obvious? Or had they somehow thought I had some kind of secret plan to turn everything around? They probably had.

"But that doesn't matter," I blatantly lied. "Because _we_ have the edge. We have momentum on our side!"

What was I even saying? Since when had momentum meant anything? It was complete nonsense, yet people in the crowd started to roar their agreement and stamp their feet. Well, maybe all the training in Miss Goodwitch's class had knocked a few screws loose, or they'd paid no attention to physics because they'd lost their marbles listening to Port's Grimm Studies class. Either way, they seemed buoyed by my bullshit.

 _(To be fair, given the hopelessness of the situation, I imagine they would have preferred to believe anything other than the truth.)_

"Yesterday we were but a tribe," I continued, getting into the swing of things. This whole speech thing wasn't so hard. You just pointed out things they already knew and then made it sound like we'd all achieved something by it. "Today, we are more than that. We now have a place to call our home and new friends to call our brothers."

More cheers. More stamping of feet.

I was beginning to get into the flow now, and waited patiently for the cheering to recede. I felt like I'd done well enough to back out, and planned to end it with a quick reminder. "For now, rest and recover and get to know one another. Remember, we may have made our new home, but we still need to defend it." And they would defend _me_ while they were at it.

"A name!" someone called.

"Our new home needs a name," Cardin said loudly, walking up to stand beside me. I had to admit I was relieved to have him take centre stage and was happy to give it to him. He nodded and turned to the crowd. "You have heard our Lord's words. Today, we rest, for tomorrow we shall take the war to the women!"

Those… Those weren't my words at all! I tried to shake my head and catch his attention, but Cardin went on like he normally did. Not that the crowd disapproved, of course. They were cheering like mad men, and they had to be – mad, that was – if they wanted to fight.

"Until then, we present to you your new home!" Cardin held both arms wide, signalling the auditorium. "Welcome to Jaunehalla!"

Jaune… what now?

"Jaunehalla!" someone – Dove – screamed.

" **Jaunehalla!"** the crowd echoed.

"For the Warchief!" Sun yelled, one fist held high.

" **Warchief! Jaunehalla! War! War! WAR!** "

And all the while, it was all I could do to stare. That… wasn't what I'd had in mind.

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War, Chapter 8**

 **Written by Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _Though I was not there, I felt the reverberations of what occurred in the North Wing. It happened without warning, though that is perhaps too arrogant to say. We knew of the insurrection, after all. It was the reason the army had been sent to quell the rogue male, Jaune Arc. I had not met him in person before, though I had seen him once or twice and not thought too much of him. Perhaps I misjudged, for it was his name I would be hearing for days to come._

 _On hand ant at the main Academy Building, I reacted as I should to the noise coming from the North and led a unit of scouts to investigate. What we found was both a shock and a nightmare, though we knew it not at the time and even if we had, I doubt we would have believed it._

 _Women, bedraggled and low on aura, bereft of supplies, weapons and food. They stumbled from the North Wing with vacant expressions and eyes that spoke of great loss. Many were bruised and showed clear signs of combat, but their defeat did not make sense. What lone man could have taken them? What terrible Grimm had they discovered in the hallways?_

 _I asked them, but their words – I believed – were nonsense._

" _The King in the North," they would say._

" _He comes," another would add._

" _A tide of men – a horde from the North."_

 _The warnings continued on, and through the fevered and hushed whispers we pieced together a picture. They spoke of an uprising, of a mysterious King who had united the tribes and somehow formed them into a Kingdom of their own. They spoke of squads of men – ten to twenty in number – streaming down the halls and challenging any they came upon._

 _They spoke of arrogance and conceit, their own in all cases, and told us stories of how they had laughed in the faces of the defeated – only to find themselves roundly trounced in turn._

 _They spoke of the despair of loss, of the shock that the man could beat them, and how they have been stripped of food and drink, then expelled from the North Wing, told never to return lest they face the fury of the Arconaughts, whoever they were supposed to be._

 _Now, I recognise the name. At the time, I did not._

 _I too was arrogant. I too felt we were invulnerable. I had become glut from out success and it was with that foolish arrogance that I directed our team into the North Wing. I would find this `King of Men`, this `Warchief`, and I would drag him down with my bare hands._

 _I was a fool…_

 _When my teammates found me later, I was huddled outside the North Wing, rocking back and forth as I stared down at my empty hands. The scouts I had entered with were all beside me, and all had lost their weapons, supplies – and more importantly – their self-respect._

" _What happened?" Nebula asked, crouching down to touch my shoulder. "Octavia… who did this to you?"_

" _He has come…" I whispered._

" _Who?" she asked. "Who's come?"_

" _The King in the North. I… I need to speak to the High Queen. I have a message to deliver."_

" _We'll take you to her," Nebula promised. "What is it, though? What's the message?"_

 _I swallowed heavily. It was… difficult to admit, and still hard to grasp even though I'd seen the results with my own eyes. Our team had been beset upon by men, by men I recognised. Team SSSN, Yatsuhashi the Giant, and even Cardin Winchester – the man who would later be known as the Right Hand of God. We'd fought so hard, but they… they had been unreal._

" _We no longer have control of the North Wing," I said. "It… It's lost to us."_

 _And as the third day of the Beacon Civil War came to an end, not a single woman could claim to reside within the North Wing. We had all of us been forced back, our tails tucked between our legs and our minds shattered by the possibility that this war might still be losable._

 _But we knew deep inside that this would not be allowed to stand._

 _The War had just begun…_

* * *

 **So, there we go. Like I said at the top, this chapter is sort of an ending to the first main arc, the point where Jaune goes from a guy leading a small group trying to avoid and evade, to someone leading a large force who have settled down. The battle lines have been drawn – the North Wing declared their territory, but now the women know where they are and both sides can prepare for the TRUE war.**

 **This chapter may have been a little more "exposition heavy" as a result.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 9** **th** **December**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	8. Chapter 8

**The War Continues**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

" _Okay, they've taken the North, captured Ruby and set up a base. This is still under control. It totally is. This just puts them all in one convenient place. It'll be easier for us to crush them that way."_

Brigadier General Weiss Schnee

* * *

The scroll call came through with a loud blare, and I picked it up and answered, revealing a beautiful woman with hair like spun gold and eyes of amethyst. She smiled when she saw who it was, and then tossed some hair behind her and spoke a greeting.

" _Dead man."_

"It's Jaune, actually..."

 _"No. I'm pretty sure I got it right the first time."_

I sighed and palmed my face, not quite sure whether Yang was being honest or not, but not quite daring to call her out on it either way. I adjusted the scroll to see her better, holding it sideways. She'd called me instead of it being the other way around, but I'd been prepared for it. Considering what had happened, it had been inevitable.

There was the choice of refusing the call, after all. I'd thought long and hard on that but quickly realised that if I didn't answer the call she'd find a more direct route of getting in touch - likely by knocking down the wall behind me and grabbing me by the collar. I'd decided to take the easier option and save her the trouble but it didn't look to have made her any less murderous.

"You can't kill me, Yang."

" _Really? That's debatable."_

"Okay, you _can_ kill me, but you shouldn't. You're not allowed to." I paused and shook my head. "Look, you want to talk with Ruby, right?"

" _Yep. Put her on the call or die."_

Well that was an easy choice. I tossed the scroll over to my prisoner, who caught it in one hand while she was busily devouring some pudding with the other. We'd both been expecting the call, but now that it was here, Ruby looked almost as nervous as me.

"H-Hey, Yang," she said, trying to hide her sweets. "Wow, how about that weather?"

" _You got captured!"_

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "It's really crazy weather, huh?"

" _Ruby…"_

I recognised that tone. I had five older sisters so I was used to the single name technique, the way an older sibling could drag it out to make you feel like you'd done something wrong. The beauty was in knowing they often didn't even have the evidence to pin on you, but were instead fishing to make you mess up. Ruby didn't seem to realise that and immediately caved.

"I couldn't help it, Yang. There were so many of them! I… I fought really hard."

Had she…?

"I took loads down with me!"

No she hadn't.

"But Jaune tricked me!"

Okay, that one I could own up to.

"Zwei also betrayed me! He's betrayed us all!"

"Arf!"

" _Ugh, come on sis. I can't believe you got caught – and by Jaune of all people. How do you expect to live this one down?"_ Yang and her sister ignored my offended protest. _"Never mind that. How is he treating you? Is he following the rules?"_

Ruby glanced over in my direction and I made the universal gesture for pleading. I'd stuck to the rules perfectly but there was no telling if Ruby wouldn't feel vindictive and lie about it. That would have Yang hunting me for the rest of my life.

"Jaune's been good," Ruby said, much to my relief.

" _He's feeding you?"_

"Yang, I'm not a dog…" When the blonde's expression didn't falter, Ruby sighed. "Yes, Yang. I get loads of food and drink and even cookies when I'm good."

" _When you're good?"_

"When I do what he says."

" _Huh, you sure you're not a dog?"_ Yang laughed. _"Whatever. Okay, so that's safe. How about sleeping arrangements?"_

"I sleep with Jaune."

There was a long moment of silence where both Ruby and I waited for Yang's response – a response that did not come. I tried to glance at the scroll without being obvious about it, but Ruby saw and tugged it away, hiding her sister from view.

" _You… sleep with him…?"_ Yang finally spoke in a voice that was a little hoarse.

"Yeah, together," Ruby said. "It was awkward at first because I thought I was going to have to sleep with all the other guys, but Jaune told them I was his personal prisoner and he's been taking care of me ever since."

" _Personal… prisoner…?"_

"Yep. Basically, I'm not _their_ prisoner. I'm _his_ and his alone. They don't get to do anything with me. Only Jaune does." Ruby smiled at that and I nodded along, pleased to see she was going to give her sister the full truth. Having Yang in my good books couldn't be a bad thing and I knew she'd be thrilled to know I was taking such good care of Ruby.

 _(Not quite as thrilled as you might have thought, Jaune. As ever, your obliviousness leads you to ruin…)_

" _W-What kinds of things does he make you do?"_

"Not much," Ruby tried to sound casual, but she was so nervous that the lie was obvious. She didn't want to admit to having given up information about her allies to us, but she'd never been very good at lying and I knew Yang caught it. "Just prisoner things, you know. Nothing you need to worry about - and _definitely_ not anything I shouldn't be doing with him. Nothing you or Weiss would be angry about. No way."

Yang gurgled loudly.

Was she okay?

" _Has he touched you?"_

Yang sounded horrified and Ruby looked in my direction for an answer. I shrugged back, and she nodded. "Well yeah, occasionally."

" _Where!?"_

"Wherever," Ruby said, shrugging. "Why? What's wrong?"

" _Nothing, I… I…"_ Yang let out a long groan. _"Just tell me, Ruby. He doesn't make you do anything you don't like, does he? Has he made you do anything against your will?"_

Ruby glowered at me, and no amount of begging was going to save me. "Well there was the _one_ time," she grumbled. "I wouldn't say what he wanted so he decided to be a meanie about it."

Yang sounded horrified. _"W-What did he do…?"_

"He wouldn't give me any sugar!"

There was a loud crash from the other side of the scroll – followed by several people calling out Yang's name. Ruby looked startled as well and I had a chance to peek over her shoulder to see the screen. Yang had fallen to one knee, but caught herself on something out of the shot. When she looked back up her eyes were red and her face incredibly pale. She saw me and growled angrily.

" _You…"_

"Me?"

" _You…"_

"Me," I sighed. "What have I done now?"

" _You know what you've done,"_ she snarled. _"I want Ruby back. There's no way I'm leaving her with you to do… to do whatever it is you're doing!"_

Interrogating her?

 _(Jaune, please…)_

Well, I supposed that made sense. Yang must have figured out I'd outsmarted Ruby and gotten the information we wanted from her. Either way, she probably wanted to avoid it happening again. It hadn't been an unexpected development, and in fact I'd been waiting for it. I smiled in what I hoped was a confident manner.

"Well, I'm not above giving Ruby back if you want her, Yang. She's special to me, so I'd never make her unhappy if I could help it."

"Aw, Jaune~" Ruby cooed.

" _What's the catch?"_ Yang asked, clearly suspicious. She had a right to be.

"The catch is that if you want Ruby, you need to give us something of equal value."

Yang paused. _"You want one of the captured men?"_

"I was actually thinking of a trade for food."

Yang stared at me long and hard. _"You have a skewed idea of equal value. Are you honestly saying food is more important to you than the guys we've captured?"_

I tried to find a way around that question but wasn't really able to. Okay, it was bad, I'll admit. The thing is, Ruby counted for at least five guys in terms of her capability. That wasn't to say she was super strong or able to take on five people, but in terms of the war her speed was a big thing. There wasn't any single person I could think of who was worth that, and even if there had been I'd still have taken the food first.

We were running low, after all. As much as Sun's patrols had recruited more people to our cause, and pooled the food they provided, it wasn't going to be enough to last the remaining days. On the other hand, Yang had loads of food from the cafeteria, so she'd be willing to cut a good deal to get Ruby back.

" _Okay,"_ she finally said. _"I'm down with it. I'll give you Ruby's weight in food. How's that sound?"_

I took a long look at Ruby, who cocked her head to the side and smiled at me, her legs kicking under the chair she was sat on. She flushed a little when my eyes dipped lower. I looked her up and down, and then turned back to the scroll.

"How about _your_ weight in food."

Lilac flashed red. _"Are you calling me fat?"_

"No!" I yelped. Quick, quick, abort, abort. "How about Nora's weight?"

" _IS HE CALLING ME FAT!?"_ a frantic voice screamed off to the side. _"Nooo! What if Ren thinks I'm fat? Is it the pancakes? It has to be the pancakes! Arghhhhh!"_

"You're not fat, Nora!" I shouted into the scroll. I wasn't sure she heard me, though Yang clearly did since she leaned back from the screen and rubbed a finger in one ear. Oh great. I'd insulted Nora. I had to wonder if that would be a one leg offence or a two leg one.

 _(Both legs, I'm afraid.)_

" _We'll split the difference,"_ Yang said. _"Send me a time and place for the meet and I'll be there, but I'll warn you. No funny business. And Ruby – whatever he says or does, don't take any of his sugar! Don't let him touch you anywhere!"_

The scroll flicked off, and in the silence that remained I looked to Ruby. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your sister is weird."

Ruby sighed, leaned forward and placed a hand on my arm, pointedly ignoring Yang's bizarre advice.

"You don't even know the start of it, Jaune. I've had to live with her for fifteen years."

/-/

"You want to hold a prisoner exchange?" Ren asked when I broke the plan to the other commanders of Jaunehalla. I was still on the fence about the name, though by that I meant I wished I could leap off the fence to my death.

It was the kind of name I'd look back on and never live down. I just knew it.

"How many people are we trading her for?" Cardin asked. As ever, he was eager for fresh recruits.

"They wouldn't trade her for people," I lied. "They hold all the cards so there wasn't much I could do no matter how hard I tried."

"They probably feel they could rescue Ruby if they tried hard enough," Ren said. "In all honesty, I doubt they're wrong."

"We've managed to build up some defences but Jaunehalla isn't ready to fend off an attack yet," Sun said, stood arms crossed to the side. He'd been busy all morning reinforcing the corridors. "Right now the best we could hope for would be to delay them. They'd run us down in time, though."

That news was sombre and Cardin and Yatsu looked dispirited. Ren, however, looked at me, clearly impressed. "That's why the prisoner exchange is such a good idea. It would distract the girls and give us an opportunity to rush the fortifications…" Ren stared at me, as did Sun, Cardin and Yatsu, their eyes wide.

"Genius," Cardin whispered. "You thought that far ahead?"

"Yes…?" I hazarded.

"Amazing…" Sun shook his head – and for the life of me I couldn't figure out if he was being sarcastic about it or not. I wasn't sure if I'd have preferred him to be so or not. "While the prisoner exchange goes on we can spread out without fear. The girls will be so sure you'll try and outsmart them that they'll outsmart themselves! This is perfect!"

"We can take the other control points in the North Wing as well," Cardin said, leaning forward with a manic smile on his face. "They're all but abandoned at this point but it was too much of a risk to make a move on them in case Yang or Nora caught us. With those two busy we'll have an easy time and we can fortify them, too."

"And in one fell swoop our food, objective and fortification problems will be solved," Yatsuhashi said. "We'll even lose our prisoner, who we have to feed. Coincidentally, we'll lose her _after_ Jaune has already gotten the important information out of her."

The four turned to stare at me with absolute awe.

"Y-Yeah," I replied, laughing awkwardly. "That was totally the plan. All of those things you just said."

/-/

Leadership, I'd quickly realised, was a bizarre thing.

I'd have about as much input in the strategy session as Ruby did in Atlas politics, yet the four Generals – each of which was stronger, smarter and more apt than I – had all but sung my praises by the end of it. They'd each presented their own plans to me in turn and I'd agreed to each, not really understanding but trusting that they knew better than I did. It wasn't exactly a long shot there.

One downside, however, was that by virtue of the process of elimination and each of them having their own plans, I'd been left to handle the prisoner exchange myself. It made sense, I supposed. It had been me Yang made the deal with and I'd all but promised to keep an eye on Ruby. That didn't make me feel any better however, since as part of the exchange I'd been forced to choose a place and time.

That would have to be _outside_ of the North Wing, obviously – which meant I'd have to leave the safety of my domain and step out into the dangerous Wildlands that made up the other wings. I'd left it as late as possible before sending Yang a message to meet me in the space between the West and North Wings, the very place where Ruby had first been taken. Even then, given their position in the centre, I knew the girls could marshal a huge force to capture me if they wanted to.

And since it didn't make much sense to do an exchange with a huge army, I'd been all but forced to step out alone. Or alone except for Ruby that was. She stood by my side impatiently.

"Come on, Jaune. Isn't this the time you said to meet?"

"I just want to be careful. What happens if there's an ambush waiting for me?"

"Then we get to play video games while you're in prison," she said. It didn't help much.

I peeked nervously out towards the gardens and flinched when I saw a familiar figure stood in the middle. She had blonde hair, a beautiful figure and the strength and skills to turn me inside out if she wanted to. In turn I had her sister and leverage over her, which had sounded a lot better in my head than it did here and now. Yang was going to kill me.

 _(If Weiss doesn't beat her to it.)_

Ruby, of course, knew no subtlety and waved one hand. "Hey Yang! Over here!"

Welp. There went the element of surprise. Ruby tried to rush past me but I caught her hood before she could, pulling her up short. "You're not allowed to leave my side, remember. The teachers are definitely watching this."

"Oh yeah…" Ruby laughed.

We made our way out cautiously – or I did, anyway. Ruby just skipped at my side as if she didn't have a care in the world (which she didn't). Yang waited impatiently in the centre of the garden, and as I approached I noticed a red trolley with four wheels beside her, loaded high with trays of food. It was full meals, and though they would be perishable, having a warm meal for everyone in Jaunehalla would be a welcome affair. If I could get them home safely, of course.

"Jaune," Yang greeted when I came close.

I stopped a good six metres away, judging that as a fair distance for me to scream like a little girl if she decided to turn things violent. I'd have liked to talk at a safe distance, but since that was about three and a half miles, it wasn't much of an option. If Yang wanted to kick my ass, she'd find me. I might as well make it easier for her and not have her be angry _and_ frustrated.

"I've brought Ruby," I said a little pointlessly.

"I've brought the food," Yang said, the gesture equally pointless. "Are we going to do this?"

I wasn't sure, to be honest. My hands were sweaty and my eyes raked the windows of the West Wing, checking for an ambush, snipers, anything that could take me out the second I let my guard down. There were none. That didn't mean much however, since guard up or not, Yang could take me out easily.

"I've come in good faith," I said. "The people of Jaunehalla are honest-"

"Wait, I'm sorry. What was that?"

I blinked. "What?"

"That name…" A slow grin spread across Yang's face. "Did you just say Jaunehalla?"

"I-It wasn't my choice!"

"Snrk…" She clearly didn't believe me. "Sure it wasn't. Sheesh, wait until Blake hears about this. Or Pyrrha!" Yang tossed her head back and laughed, ignoring my despair at anyone hearing the stupid name. I hadn't been given a choice in the matter.

Yang's laughter cut off as a muffled banging noise sounded behind me.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, sweating a little.

"That sound. It sounded like hammering."

"We're just putting some posters up," I lied. "You know, making Jauneha- our home a nicer place." She caught my slip and snickered again, but as long as she didn't keep digging deeper that was fine. "Look, can we just get this trade over with? I'd feel safer if we could part ways."

"Afraid I'll go back on the deal and capture you?" she asked.

"Honestly? Yes."

If Yang was offended by my lack of trust she handled it well, placing one hand on her hip and smiling cockily at me. She didn't activate Ember Celica though. That was a good sign.

"I could if I wanted to, but I won't," she said. "You better believe there's only one reason for that, though." She nodded to her sister. "Hey Rubes. What would you say if I went back on my word and stabbed Jaune in the back?"

"Yang, you can't!" Ruby hissed, visibly offended at the idea.

"See what I mean?" Yang rolled her eyes and sighed. "We're going to win this anyway, vomit-boy. Let's be honest about that. I don't need to break my word here and come across as the villain. I can just wait to bend you over my fist later." She held one up threateningly. "So yeah, you can take the food. Give everyone a good last meal before we-"

She was cut off by a large crashing sound from within the North Wing.

"Okay, I totally didn't imagine that…"

"You totally did," I replied, and then winced at how stupid I sounded. "I mean maybe you did. It's one of those days. Ruby mentioned the crazy weather, right? It might have been thunder." I pointed up.

It was a bright blue sky.

Yang cocked an eyebrow.

" _Crazy_ weather," I repeated. "It doesn't have to make sense."

"Ugh, whatever." Yang sighed and stepped away from the cart, gesturing for me to inspect the goods. I didn't have to since I could smell them well enough, but I did a quick check. I had no idea how much Yang or Nora actually weighed, but the stack was larger than Ruby was, so it looked about right.

"Everything looks in order."

"And Ruby's weapon?" Yang asked expectantly.

I reluctantly drew it forth and tossed it to the girl. She caught and cradled it against her chest, whispering about how nobody would ever take it away from its mommy again. I looked to Yang in question. She shook her head and mouthed `don't ask`.

Still, I'd armed and released Ruby. This was the exact moment where if something was about to go wrong, it would. My legs tensed, and Yang must have noticed as hers did too. Her eyes narrowed on mine and we both stared at one another, ignoring Ruby as she whispered sweet nothings to Crescent Rose.

Tentatively, I took hold of the trolley's handle and tugged it closer to me. Yang placed a hand on Ruby, tugging her in kind. One step from me was echoed with one from her, the both of us slowly building distance.

We'd both given our words no one would interfere with the exchange. But the "exchange" had technically now happened – which meant all bets were off.

And we both knew what kind of people we were.

On the third step, a window shattered. Yang pulled Ruby up onto her shoulder and fled – even as myriad weapons poked from windows behind me – and more did the same from the women's side too. I was already running, one hand over my head as I focused on keeping the food safe. Dust rounds ricocheted off the floor on either side of me and I knew the same was happening to Yang, as well.

She'd brought reinforcements.

Then again, so had I.

We'd both known the other would betray them.

Was it really betrayal when you were both doing it? Probably, but I'd never claimed to be an honourable guy. I'd cheated my way into Beacon, after all. I'd blustered and bluffed my way into this position. If cheating had worked thus far; why stop?

I'd positioned myself well and the shots that would have hit me bounced off the food I was dragging behind and using for cover. A few meals were ruined but other people going hungry was a price I was willing to pay to save my own hide.

 _(Such a generous sacrifice...)_

I dragged what remained into a corridor and pushed it into the hands of a waiting third year. "Get it to Jaunehalla!" I hissed, wincing again at the name. "I'll hold them off!"

"Yes, sir," the boy returned, his eyes sparkling at my heroic sacrifice. He rushed away, the heavy trolley trundling loudly behind him. If that noise was sure to draw any of the pursuing females then it was definitely an oversight on my part and not intentional. That was my story and I was sticking to it. Everything Ruby had told me suggested the girls would focus on the objective and ignore everything else.

Except one minor detail…

"That's Jaune!" a girl yelled.

"The King in the North!"

"I heard he _did things_ to Ruby Rose!"

"Get him!"

I didn't want to see what they had in store. I dashed after the man with the trolley, easily forty to sixty women in hot pursuit. I had no idea why they were so focused on me, especially since there was no way they actually _believed_ all that stuff about me being an amazing strategist. Surely not. They had Pyrrha in charge and she knew me better than anyone. She wouldn't fall for this larger than life depiction of me.

 _(I'm afraid that when it comes to Pyrrha, everything about you is larger than life. Believe me. I've seen you in the showers and you don't match what she occasionally dreams about. Then again, I'm not sure it's anatomically possible in the first place.)_

In the end it didn't matter. I was in trouble and I wanted to get out of it. It was at that time that I recalled a lesson my father had once taught me. You don't need to be faster than the Ursa. You just need to be faster than someone else. The guy with the trolley was ahead of me, still struggling with all the food. If I could just overtake him then the girls would be forced to let me escape.

Again, it would be a sacrifice, but it was one I was willing to make! I pressed myself harder, feet pounding against the ground as I surged around the corner after the man – and instantly froze.

The corridor that should have panned out ahead didn't pan at all. It didn't do anything on account of the fact it was now _sealed_ with at least a few tonnes of random detritus. It had been the main route back to the auditorium and it was now somehow sealed off.

"This way Warchief," the other yelled, turning in the other direction. "The hallway has been sealed!"

"I can see that. By who? When!?" I heard the feet behind getting closer. "Never mind. Run!"

He didn't need to be told twice. The two of us sprinted down the corridor and it seemed like he'd heard the same advice I had for he never once fell behind despite my best efforts. I could hear the girls catching up to us and it seemed inevitable that we'd be caught. With a desperate cry I threw myself around the next corner, and came across another `new` addition.

This one wasn't a sealed corridor, however, and Sun waved a hand at me.

"Quick!" he yelled. "Get to the wall!"

Wall? What wall? All I saw before me was a weird barricade made of vending machines tipped onto their sides, tables stacked above and chairs above those – mimicking a fort in some bizarre way. They'd even fixed noticeboards onto the front of it so that it was a solid construct with no gaps for a weapon to be pushed through. All in all it reached almost two metres tall, and there was only a metre clearance above that and below the ceiling.

I didn't have time to question it. A wooden ramp was lowered down so that the guy with the trolley could push it up, and I helped, if only because it would get me up faster. Sun caught my shoulder and dragged me in the rest of the way, revealing that the platform on the other side was lower. We were stood on tables, but we'd be able to swing weapons at our normal height, while any girls trying to get over would have to crouch or crawl.

More than that, it revealed at least _six_ more of these strange barricades travelling further back down the hall. Sun had been busy.

"How?" I asked. "When?"

"Welcome to the Great Wall of Jaunehalla," Sun said, clapping a hand on my shoulder while I fought for breath. "A series of six fortified walls heavily defended to the front and completely open to the back. We also sealed the other hall so this is now the only way into Jaunehalla. We can hold the line forever with this baby, and if we need to fall back to another wall, the girls will get zero cover for each one they claim."

He seemed incredibly proud, which I couldn't really blame him for since as ugly as it was, it was a marvel of engineering that he'd gotten it done so quickly.

"This wouldn't have been possible without your plan," he said in an answer to my unasked question. "When you arranged the time and place for that meeting just about every girl trying to push into the North relocated to arrange their ambush. That let us call everyone out to work on this, and we got it done in record time." He paused to listen to the approaching horde. "Or right on time by the sound of it. You ready to hold the wall, Warchief?"

No. Not really. But I had a feeling I wasn't going to get much of a choice so I accepted Sun's help as he pulled me up, and placed both my hands atop the lip of the wall.

The ramp was pulled back not a moment too soon as the girls rounded the corner, and I felt a thrill of fear as I saw Nora at the front, braying angrily as she hefted her war hammer above her head. The horde of barbarians roared their approval and I knew without a doubt that there would be no tricking her this time. She was here for Ren, and she would not be satisfied with anything less.

More than that, they outnumbered us at least two for one. I turned to Sun to ask if he was confident in his defences, but he slashed a hand down before I could ask.

"Release the ballistae!"

The what-now? There was a mighty twang behind me and I ducked my head as silvery objects flew overhead. A quick look back revealed that there were at least four people operating strange contraptions that were essentially heavily coiled and twisted elastic bands between the legs of a chair. They'd been coiled as thick as rope and a basket had been affixed in the middle. I watched as someone came up and filled it from a bucket, and then it was launched once more. I turned back to watch the barrage fall.

It was like a fireworks display on the ground. The projectiles exploded in bright hues of yellow, purple and pink, splashing soda and other fizzy drink over the approaching army, dragging some to the ground from sheer force alone while others slipped on the wet floor. Girls cried out and the floor ran red with cherry soda.

"Another volley!" Sun cried.

More and more cans rained down, and I even saw some hurl cans and plastic bottles themselves, adding to the firepower. It wrought terrible devastation on the enemy but many were able to force their way through it, Nora still at the front.

"They're going to reach the wall," I hissed.

"I know," Sun said. "That's the plan. Look." He pointed down to about six or seven metres in front of the wall, where mattresses, rucksacks, bundles of clothing and other unevenly shaped objects were laid. I hadn't had to deal with them thanks to the ramp, but I watched as Nora hit them – and suddenly slowed.

Her footing was too uneven to rush through them, and I stared in awe as the other girls slowed to a slow walk as well, arms held up before their faces to block the items that the guys could now much more accurately hurl at them. Sun had set up charge breakers to stop the assault, forcing them to a slow crawl at the last second. Some girls at the back didn't even realise either and crashed into their fellows, driving them forward and knocking some down.

Even so, it seemed clear they would reach us. Battered, beleaguered and covered in sticky drink, sure, but they'd be among us soon and if anything they'd be even angrier. I looked back to the wall behind us, wondering if we were going to retreat and try the same again – but Sun pushed something into my hand before I could make a run for it.

"Here," he said. "Use this." He then raised his voice. "Ready weapons!"

Men dropped their cans and bottles instantly, reaching down to equip themselves. I looked down on my own new weapon, gripping it tightly before me. How would this work? It seemed like madness. We'd cut them down to roughly equal numbers now, but they had Nora and we had… well, me. That wasn't fair at all!

Nora's hand clamped onto the lip of the wall and she dragged her face into my vision. She was angry – and also sticky. Her hair had been dyed pink in places and some grape soda had stuck to her cheek and turned into a purplish haze. She growled threateningly at me.

 _(Little known fact, but Nora despises grapes.)_

I cried out and slammed my weapon into her face.

"ATTACK!" Sun roared.

All down the line, men raised their weapons and struck – like a methodical machine going up and down, over and over. The loud "fwap, fwap, fwap" of the strikes echoed through the corridor. I looked down at my own pillow, clutched between my fingers, the other end still pressing into Nora's face. She growled and I drew back and slapped her again with it.

Somewhere to the side, a girl fell back from the wall. She clutched the pillow as she fell – a desperate attempt to right herself – but it only caused the thin material to rip and tear, spraying synthetic fluff out in every direction. Some of it wafted against and past me, but what hit Nora's arms and shoulders stuck fast to her drenched skin and clothing. She coughed and tried to wipe some of it off her face.

Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense. The soda to make them wet and sticky, the wall to make climbing difficult – and the pillows to finish off the job. I tossed mine in the air, catching it by the end as I reached back to get the full distance I could for a swing. Nora's eyes opened at the last second, and she cried out as the soft pillow came crashing in.

Once, twice – I slapped left and right, the pillow crashing against her and forcing her body to sway. The end ripped under the abuse and yet more fluff poured out, sticking all over her in what must have been a terrible and itchy sensation. I gritted my teeth through it, drawing back for one final blow as Nora wavered on the edge, her grip faltering.

"No," she gasped weakly. "I'm… Queen of… the castle…"

"Not my castle!" I yelled – and drove the pillow home.

It was too much. Nora's head whipped back and she let out a sharp gasp. Her fingers – slick from fizzy pop – slipped from the barricade and she sailed a foot away. Her body struck one of the mattresses below, breaking her fall safely but causing a loud "oomph" to echo out over the din.

The silence that followed seemed deafening – as both boys _and_ girls stared in awe.

"Valkyrie has fallen," a girl finally cried. "She's fallen! Retreat! Fall ba-oof!" She was cut off as a wave of feathers rushed towards her, sticking to her face and cleavage. She rolled about trying to get the itchy things off. Another girl stooped to help her up, while two caught Nora by the shoulders and dragged the shocked girl away.

As the others fell back and it soon turned into an all-out retreat, I gripped my battered and beaten pillow and stared. We'd done it. No, I'd done it. My own weapon had slain Nora in honourable combat. Confused, tired, and maybe just a little elated, I thrust my limp pillow up into the air.

The cheers along the wall shook the school itself.

* * *

 **Excerpt**

 **On Days of War**

 **Octavia Ember**

* * *

" _This is madness!" Brigadier General Weiss Schnee pounded a fist down onto the wooden table, spilling some cordial from a mug. "How is it possible that our first assault force was driven back without so much as a single prisoner to our name?"_

" _The men were waiting for them. That's all I've been able to get from Nora so far," High Queen Pyrrha Nikos said. Her hands were sticky from her time healing the defeated, and many were the girls washing out their hair right now. "She's taken it hard, Weiss. She's all but catatonic. You know she's undefeated in Team JNPR Pillow-fights for a reason. This has really shaken her confidence."_

" _Pillow Queen… gone… not like this… not like this..." Nora rocked back and forth on a chair._

" _Damn it!" Weiss slammed the table again. "We had everything under control. All of Beacon was ours for the taking. What went wrong!?"_

" _Jaune Arc," Yang said, arms crossed._

" _I refuse to believe that… that idiot could be responsible for all of this!"_

" _Believe it nor not, Weiss-cream. I just listened to Ruby tell me how he's commanding all those men and how they answer to him. You want to hear the really bad news? Two Capture Points are now blue."_

 _The War Council gasped in shock. To note, the Capture Points were the Objectives that Ozpin had scattered around Beacon to judge the outcome of the war. There were nine in total, an odd number to prevent a draw, and the colours were blue for boys and red for girls. Some liked to say it was pink, but some had said that was too patronising and that it was magenta at best. Others just rolled their eyes and didn't care about the colour._

 _Either way, the news that the boys – who had traditionally (in so far as tradition can exist in a five-day period) had zero Capture Points – now had two to their name? It was enough to bring silence to the Council._

" _It's not enough to win," Pyrrha said._

" _No, but it's a start," Yang countered. "They've gone from none to two. What happens tomorrow? Do they jump up to three, four – or maybe even five?"_

" _Not on my watch," Weiss hissed._

" _We can't afford to take any more risks, Weiss-cream. That lien is getting further and further away and mommy needs new tyres for her motorbike. We have to take them seriously. There's maybe a day and a half left. I don't want us to lose at the last minute."_

" _We won't, Yang. We'll crush this ridiculous rebellion."_

" _That's what Nora thought," a voice whispered from behind, "and look where that led her."_

 _The Council paused and turned as a new figure entered the hall, gracefully passing by the guards who had been startled at her very appearance. Her hair fell in raven waves down her shoulders and she was flanked by two women dressed head to toe in black._

 _Yang smiled and nodded to the newcomer. "Blake."_

" _I heard what happened," Blake said, stepping up to the table. "They've done well to forge a home for themselves and dig in. We've already seen that a direct assault is fruitless. It would probably take everything we have to break through and bring them down. That would be a costly endeavour._ _I came when I heard Ruby had been taken. I intended to slip in and free her myself but I see Yang's already taken care of it. I would have helped but I was busy rounding up some straggling men in the East Wing. Some were trying to reach the North Wing, but my Kunoichi caught them first."_

 _None dared doubt her claim and none would, for Blake's unit – the Kunoichi of Love, were renowned across Beacon. It was said they had skills that others might have called unnatural… and that they followed the teachings of some mysterious tome no Kunoichi would dare show to another. To even ask about its contents would earn a red-face – doubtless from rage – and stammering responses. Their techniques were "art", they were "misunderstood", and most importantly – though I know not why it was even raised – their techniques were "not smut"._

" _It seems to me that the problem with this latest insurrection is apparent," Blake said, tapping one finger on the table. "Up until now the men have been without direction and easy to deal with. It was only when they were joined under one banner that they became a problem."_

" _And you know how to deal with that?" Yang asked, smirking._

 _Blake smiled back._

" _Why, it's simple. We'll simply cut the head off the snake. And thanks to what Ruby just told me, we know not only where he is, but where he sleeps._ _My unit will slip into Jaunehalla tonight."_

 _She drew forth her weapon and slammed it point down into the map – pinning the exact room Ruby Rose had told them she had been kept within. Jaune Arc's personal quarters. The master Kunoichi chuckled and strode back to the door, waving one hand over her shoulder._

" _We'll see how long they hold without their beloved Warchief."_

 _As Blake strode away, chuckling to herself, Weiss turned to Yang._

 _"Is no one going to comment how weirdly into this she is...?"_

 _"Given what she reads? I can't say I'm surprised."_

* * *

 **Uh-oh. Well, I felt this excerpt was needed for the sake of giving the girl's side of events – which I'm sure plenty of people wanted. And yes, the boys held the Great Wall via the medium of pillow-fighting. That's… kind of a sign of how this "Civil War" is...**

 **Oh, just because I've had it asked – Octavia is not an OC, she is a member of Team NDGO, the all-girls team from Season 3. This story happens after Season 2 but before the start of the Vytal Festival. It's pretty much in the period between. So yes, technically speaking Cinder and her crew are here and taking part in the war. Make of that what you will.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 23** **rd** **December**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	9. Chapter 9

**Onwards and such**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 _Those familiar with Jaune's words will already be aware of his tendency to skim over the details that don't press directly onto him. Although the accountings you will read here act as though it is merely the next hour and that little happened in between, I should point out that the women did not simply sit back and do nothing after their defeat at the Great Wall. Quite the contrary, in fact. Sun Wukong and the brave members of the Homeguard faced numerous probing attacks through the day, some even forcing them to surrender one or two walls – though they always reclaimed them when the battles ended._

 _Naturally, most of this went unnoticed to my companion, who preferred to focus on the more… immediate picture. Of course, it just so happened that many others were focused on that as well, as Jaune would soon realise._

 _Lie Ren_

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – From Shadows**

" _I tell you, man, it's quiet. Far too quiet. What do you think, Sk- Sky? Where are you, man?"_

Dove Bronzewing

* * *

"We have them on the back foot. We must strike!"

It was not a suggestion I hadn't heard before and it was from the same person as usual, Cardin Winchester, stood with one arm outstretched and the other clasped in a fist against his chest. As one of the main Generals for our forces – and probably the most senior one – his words carried weight. Dangerous weight, especially at one of our War Councils.

I hadn't called the Council, of course. It had sort of called itself and then hosted itself in my room, which had dragged me into it whether I liked it or not. As ever, I was about as useful as a chocolate sword on a hot day, but the others were determined to take my input whether I wanted to give it or not. I suppose that was fortunate since if I weren't there, hot heads like Cardin might have their way.

"I don't necessarily think we have them on the back foot," I said, "and if we do, we're on it as well. I know a lot has happened, but we've only had a home here for less than twenty-four hours. A lot of the guys are still exhausted."

"But it's the evening of the fourth day," he said. "If we don't make plans now for tomorrow, then we'll not have time to enact them. Lord, I appreciate your strategy, but the men need time to understand and implement it. We're not all as fast as you."

There were so many things wrong with what he'd just said, but I didn't bother to point them out. I wasn't sure he'd have believed me if I did. He'd also not agree… especially with the fact that I actually _wanted_ the time limit on the civil war to run out, preferably with me safe behind Sun's big wall and a huge number of personal bodyguards. Once it was over, things could go back to normal.

"We're behind on objective points no matter how you look at it," Ren said. "We own the ones in the North Wing, but the women own all the others. I've heard reports through the forums that some people were bolstered by our independence and tried to claim some points for us, but they were all roundly defeated."

"Makes sense," Yatsuhashi said. "They did not have our Warchief's stellar leadership."

"How are our defences of the points here going?" I asked.

"Well enough. I've got Sky and Dove looking after them." Cardin smiled proudly. "They tell me there are a couple of attacks per day, but the girls are mostly focused on trying to get past the Great Wall. Still, I've told them to keep their wits about them."

"If we lose those we'll be back to square one," I pointed out. "We can't even think about going on the offensive if we can't keep those secured. Sky and Dove are loyal but I'm not sure they have what it takes if the girls go all-out to reclaim them. We need someone stronger."

"Yourself?" Cardin asked.

"I'm needed here. It needs to be someone I can trust implicitly… someone who can withstand terrible odds and bring us victory."

Cardin's chest puffed out.

"Leave it to me, Warchief. If you give me command over the defences there, I'll personally ensure no woman steps foot on such hallowed ground."

"Are you sure? It'll be a hard job."

"I'm the man for it, sir. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't, Cardin. Good luck, General."

Yatsuhashi, Ren and I saluted as the larger teen stood and marched to the door, a complicated mix of intense pride and humility on his face. I knew he'd hold the objectives until his last breath, but that naturally wasn't the real reason I'd wanted him there. I wanted Cardin and his `attack now mentality` out of the strategy sessions.

"That leaves the three of us to come up with our strategy for tomorrow," I said, looking to the remaining two.

Yatsuhashi bowed his head. "I shall leave it in your hands, Warchief. I am a follower, not a leader. It was hard enough for me to try and make ends meet for my small group, and that ended in failure until you arrived and saved us."

"The same for me," Ren agreed. "I don't have many ideas here."

I smiled.

Perfect.

It only took another few minutes to convince Ren and Yatsuhashi to leave it with me for the night, not that I thought Ren was fooled in any way, of course. My teammate was too wise for that and likely just agreed Cardin's plan wasn't worth the effort.

Mine was much safer.

It was, I liked to think, a fairly good one. Do nothing until the civil war ended, then forget about it. It wasn't an overly complicated plan which was what gave it its charm. I couldn't mess up sitting around, and since it was to be the second-to-last night of the war – with only the following day and night remaining. Although the war was only to last five days, it had begun at noon on day one (or day zero, if you would), and so would only end at noon of day six (or five), essentially. Five full days, or one-hundred and twenty hours.

I thought we'd done fairly well in the time we'd had.

"We've got a home and a base," I said to Zwei as I topped up his bowl. "Why is everyone else so focused on us fighting against the girls? It's crazy."

Zwei barked and wagged his tail in what I liked to imagine was agreement. His masters were technically on the other side and I still wasn't sure why he'd chosen to stay with me instead of them. Was it some kind of camaraderie with those who shared his gender even if of another species, or was it because I held the bag of dog food in the equation? The way he shoved his head into the bowl and scoffed away suggested it might be the latter.

"Heh, at least you're easy to understand. Good boy."

If only everyone else could be the same.

 _(There's some irony, of course, since Jaune's rise to power was often bought with food provided to hungry men. We were not so different, Zwei and the rest of us. Not so different at all.)_

As I sat down on the couch I'd picked, Zwei curling up among some cushions on the other, I brought out my scroll and inspected the map of Beacon. It came replete with its colour dots of objective markers across the North, West, East and Central Wing. Two to the north, East and West, and one in the centre, with the South left bare. Our two in the north flashed blue, proof that Cardin and his team had proven as good as their word. All the others remained pink.

The teachers had put a lot of effort into this, it seemed. Not just in deciding the rules but also offering the South Wing as something of a safe haven for any who wanted to chicken out and avoid trouble. There was no telling whether that was a test of character or not, but I'd have loved to have stayed there with Ren where it was safe. Come to think of it, everything went wrong when we found Zwei. I shot the snoozing corgi a fake glare.

I also had to wonder if the teachers would be upset that I was going to lead the men to a whole load of nothing. Would Ozpin feel cheated of his war, or had the lessons we were meant to learn already been taught? It was hard to say. I had a new appreciation for conflict, or rather for avoiding it, and maybe that was the point; taking so many transfer students – the next generation – and teaching them that war was a bad thing.

Or maybe I was just giving the headmaster too much credit. This was a guy who'd taken me in based on what had been some of the worst forged transcripts ever imagined. The guy had to be a few screws short, or just plain old lazy.

"No way am I getting myself stuck in this war," I said, putting the scroll away. "No amount of money is worth it. If Cardin wants to fight, he can fight. I'm sitting right here." Where it was nice and safe.

With a soft smile, I rolled over and tucked in for the night.

/-/

In hindsight I have no idea what woke me.

It wasn't instincts honed to a razor's edge through danger – nor was it my hearing picking up the minute differences in the room and springing me into action. I slept in a room with Nora. You didn't hear much at all once she started snoring.

Whatever the case, my incredible dream – of Weiss, of course – was interrupted as I slowly blinked myself awake once more. Though the room I was in didn't have any windows, it was obvious from the snoring outside that it was night-time still, and had it been dawn Yatsuhashi would have woken me up with some drivel about starting the day off well. I was not an early riser, nor were Ren or Nora on the weekends. Only Pyrrha was and she was normally far quieter in sneaking out for her morning jog.

This was something else, and maybe it was the _wrongness_ of it that alerted me. I sat up and glanced around, yawning into my fist as my eyes strained to adjust to the darkness. What little light there was revealed nothing wrong with the room; all the furniture was in position and the door was still shut, my Generals outside and then the army beyond them. I sighed and laid down again, tugging the blanket over my head.

Something thudded lightly to the ground behind the couch.

While it might have been said I was a heavy sleeper and not a particularly alert person, no one could accuse me of not having a healthy dose of cowardice – and the civil war had only made it worse. My eyes snapped open and I froze instantly, straining my ears to listen for the noise while doing my best not to move a muscle. Things went bump in the night all the time, and not the monster under the bed. I could have been imagining it, but something told me I wasn't.

 _(Jaune's paranoia is, I occasionally hypothesise, some kind of evolutionary quirk or early sign of a Semblance emerging. He does have an uncanny ability to sense danger, born – perhaps – from an incredible desire to run away from said danger.)_

I heard the sound again. Louder, this time. Doing my best not to look or sound suspicious, I let my hand inch down towards Crocea Mors. If someone was here they'd get a nasty surprise, namely my sword to their face as I chucked it at them and ran for my life screaming. Ruby had always bemoaned me not having a ranged option, but she just never understood the beauty of the classics like I did. Anything could be tossed at someone's face. Anything.

My hand touched the leather hilt.

Fingers clamped around my wrist.

A hand latched over my mouth as I opened my mouth to scream like the little girl I was inside. Blake's face appeared above mine, her eyes shining in the dark as she vaulted over the couch and slammed down on top of me, silencing and driving the air from my lungs.

There were few guys who would call Blake Belladonna unattractive and I certainly wasn't one of them, but having her appear out of nowhere – and smother me with one hand – was not quite the content of my hidden dreams, and I screamed again – to no avail. She kept a strong grip, her other hand dragging mine away from my sword and up over my head.

"Stay quiet," she hissed.

I wasn't much inclined to honour that request and screamed at the top of my lungs, not that it came out as anything other than a frightened muffle against her palm. She was scarily strong while I'd only just woken up.

"I've got the King," Blake said, ignoring me like the complete non-factor I was. Her attention was focused on several silhouetted figures behind the couch, six in total, or seven it turned out as one dropped from the ceiling. My wide eyes latched on an open ventilation shaft.

They'd bypassed the Great Wall entirely, but how had they managed to make it straight to my room? It was like they knew exactly where to…

Damn it, Ruby!

Why did I keep trusting her?

"The rest of you make your way outside. Find and subdue his commanders, but make sure you are not discovered. I will deal with the little King here."

"The reports suggest he is dangerous, mistress," a veiled and masked girl said. "Should not you have one of us assist you? I've heard he's bested not only Ruby Rose, but the Valkyrie too."

"Their methods are too blunt. Ours is the shadows." Blake chuckled under her breath and glanced down at me. "Leave him to me. I'm sure I'll be enough to handle him. Isn't that right, Jaune?"

I mumbled a response.

Blake wasn't giving me much in the way of any respect, but I could hardly blame her. I knew of her past in the White Fang due to Team RWBY telling us, and Blake knew my past in turn from the same. There weren't too people in Beacon more opposed when it came to skill level. She'd literally risen to the top of a paramilitary terrorist group. I was an idiot with a sword and a forged letter. If there were ten of me, it might be enough to beat a tenth of her, but that wasn't looking lightly when she had me pinned to a couch – and not in a good way!

Her entourage nodded and made their way to the door, moving with a silence that boggled the mind, even as they opened the door and filed through. I cursed the fact we hadn't thought to set sentries, but we'd assumed breaching the wall was the only way into Jaunehalla. This was meant to be the safest part of it – the part which _didn't_ need any guards.

"The kunoichi sneaking past an army of guards to confront the Warlord in his private quarters," Blake whispered. "I have to say, this isn't so far away from what happens in my books." She brought out a strip of cloth and fixed it over my mouth, tying it behind my head and gagging me. She then wiped her hand on the couch to rid it of my saliva. "Then again, the Warlords in those are usually a little more impressive. No offence."

I had no idea what she was talking about, or where she'd learned to hogtie a man – and I had a feeling I didn't want to know, either. Before I knew it one of my arms was secured behind my back while she struggled with the other, which was desperately trying to reach something I could use as a weapon. It bumped into something metallic and I gripped it hard, swinging it at the side of her head.

She saw and caught it before it could strike home, but the contents of the dog bowl sprayed out over her. If Blake had looked terrifying before, then the glare she shot me with her hair full of kibble was downright _murderous_.

"Cute." She flipped me onto my front and sat on my back, twisting both hands behind as she coiled some cordage around them. "I have no idea how _you_ of all people managed to become the leader of so many people, let alone outsmart Ruby, Weiss and Nora." She pulled on the string, tightening it. "I guess we'll chalk it up to luck. It won't matter either way. I'm not like them."

I tried to call for help past the gag, but while it was louder than with her hand, it wasn't enough to alert anyone outside. For my efforts, my captor seemed amused.

"The other Kunoichi will have already subdued your seconds-in-command so don't even bother. It turns out my unfortunate past has some fairly useful applications in something like this. Sneaking into dangerous places and removing their leaders is something I'm used to. Now… how to deal with you."

Blake glanced to the door, idly riding me as I bucked and tried to throw her off. She was slight and didn't weigh much, but she was a master of ignoring all my best efforts. I doubt she even noticed them.

"You're hardly the thinnest of people so the vents are out of the question. I guess that means we have to cut through your little stronghold."

Hope blossomed inside of me at that. Apart from all the guys they'd have to sneak by, Sun and his were holding the Great Wall and would surely notice us. There was no other way out, not unless she wanted to try and move me silently through cramped ventilation shafts. Even trussed up as I was, I could still kick out and make an absolute racket.

"They should be done by now. The funny thing about having such an easily defended position is that you become complacent. Apart from the people positioned at your wall, there aren't any sentries further in your stronghold. What's more, you've only got two people guarding the sealed off corridor. All it will take is putting them down for us to blow open that route and escape. By the time everyone wakes up and figures out what is going on we'll be long gone, with you in tow."

The second corridor! Damn it. I should have known it was a weak spot, but since the sentries there would clearly hear anyone tunnelling or trying to break through, we'd thought it fine. They could alert the others and the girls would run into a trap. That didn't hold true if the trap was sprung from our side, however.

Blake had thought everything through… and by trading Ruby back to them, I'd gone and given them all the information they needed to carry it out.

"It might be easier if you're unconscious for this," Blake whispered into my ear as an arm linked around my neck ready to choke me out. "Don't worry. I know how to do this without any risk of harming you."

I tried to say that wasn't my worry at all – so much as what would await me when I woke up back in the girl's stronghold as a captive. As it was, I tried to press my chin down to stop her getting a good hold of my neck and bucked up with my hips, kicking my legs out. Blake rode my struggles easily, adjusting her body to stay on top of mine and ensuring that my legs hit nothing but the couch nearby, spilling cushions onto the floor.

As her arm tightened around my neck and I tried not to fall unconscious, those cushions stirred. One pushed away from the top and a small head poked inquisitively out.

Blake froze.

"Arf?" Zwei seemed to ask, his little head looking to and fro. He saw my problem in an instant, my wide eyes and gagged mouth, the girl on my back threatening to strangle me, and in his little doggy way obviously misunderstood it as play-time. His tail wagged, his ears perked up and he leapt forward. "Arf! Arf!"

Damn it, Zwei!

"D-Damn it. Zwei!" Blake hissed, putting a far different emphasis on the words than I had. The faunus shifted back into a sitting position, pulling my upper body with her to act as some kind of human shield. While I still struggled to breathe, she hissed over my shoulder. "Back! Get back, stupid mutt. Ruby and Yang aren't here."

Zwei saw that and his ears drooped a little, but they perked back up as he took her in. His face cocked to the side and he panted a little faster.

"Nooo…" Blake said. "Don't even think about it. Bad boy. Shoo. Shoo!"

Whether she meant it or not Blake still had her arm around my throat, and with my body bent double I was fast running out of air. With what little strength I had left I forced my tongue out to push at the gag – no longer held taut around me – and croaked out two short words.

"Zwei. Kisses."

Ruby and Yang had trained him well. No sooner had the command left my mouth did the little ball of fur lunge forward, paws outstretched. My joy was short lived however as he struck me in the midriff and began to lick my face.

Oh, come on…

Blake, however, gasped and leapt back – releasing me for a moment. I landed hard on my side, Zwei still lapping at my face. My arms were bound loosely but still tied and it was all I could do to kick myself around so that I was facing her. Crocea Mors was nearby, and I linked my hands around it, trying to draw the blade and use it to cut the rope about my wrists.

"Stop that!" Blake hissed.

Her words had the opposite effect, making me saw away faster. She cursed and took a step forward but froze when Zwei looked her way – as if asking if she wanted to join in kissing me. The answer was a no, as evidenced by her cat-like hiss. Zwei hadn't attacked her like I hoped but his presence seemed to be enough to keep her at bay.

That changed when I got my hands free. I'd barely reached for the gag when Blake threw her fear aside and tackled me, catching me around the midriff and knocking me to the floor. We rolled over twice, her hands trying to reach my throat while mine flailed around in something I liked to call windmill fu. It wasn't a particularly offensive style but made her getting a grip on me difficult.

 _(This is, sadly, a fighting style he has implemented against Grimm as well, and it's still something I cannot fathom - especially because I personally saw him behead an Ursa with his eyes closed at the battle of the Breach. My first thought is whether Pyrrha actually does offer him any training in their "private training sessions", and my second is to wonder if I should be complaining at all since if Windmill Fu is capable of that, then do I want to disparage it?)_

While Blake and I tussled and rolled about the floor, Zwei happily leapt and danced around the melee, trying to see where he could slot in for optimum cuddling. Whenever he got close to Blake's face, I'd have a chance to regain some control. Whenever he wasn't, she continued to beat me down. But we were causing a commotion, at least, Surely the others would hear – especially if Zwei would stop wagging his tail and start _barking_ like any other dog would.

Out of desperation, I rolled over and grabbed the corgi with both hands – and thrust him into Blake's face. She recoiled in horror and fell back, but I wasn't about to let up, even as Zwei's legs kicked and he wagged his stubby tail in my face. Like a holy symbol against a demon, I held the small creature aloft, pushing it towards the girl and driving her back.

What followed was a tense standoff. I swallowed and glanced to the door, aware that reinforcements lay outside and that if I could reach it or yell out, I'd be saved. On the other hand, I'd need to turn by back on Blake to run or put Zwei down to remove my gag.

So, those two things were out of the question. I was more than aware the only thing keeping her away was the cuddly ball of fluff between us. I took a nervous step back, sliding to the side while keeping the corgi in place.

Blake did the same, not quite so encumbered and able to cover more ground. She quickly positioned herself between me and the door, cutting off my escape route.

"It doesn't have to be like this," she said. "Surrender and things will be easier."

"Mrfblrfl," I replied.

"You won't have the chance."

"Mrll?"

"As if I'd let you."

I wasn't sure we were having the same conversation.

A muffled sound echoed outside, catching my attention. I knew it was a mistake the second I looked away. It was barely that in reality, more like half a second, but when I tore my gaze back Blake had already covered the distance between us. I stumbled to the side to try and put the couch between us, but she vaulted it gracefully, eyes flashing in the dark. In desperation, I did the one thing I knew Ruby and Yang would never forgive me for.

I threw Zwei like Pyrrha's javelin.

The corgi sailed through the air, letting out a panicked yip as he crashed into Blake mid-charge. His feet landed on her chest and he kicked off to try and get his balance. Blake, meanwhile, shrieked loudly and staggered, tripped back over the couch, and cracked her head on the coffee table.

Zwei landed a second later, immediately saw the damage, and decided he wasn't going to be blamed for it. He scurried over to the corner of the room and hid behind a cupboard – right as the door slammed open and Ren and Sun, both clearly exhausted from combat, leapt in. They took one look at me, stood over Blake's unconscious form with a gag in hand.

I sighed.

"Would it even matter if I said this isn't what it looks like?"

/-/

"It was pretty much a stroke of luck," Ren explained as the Kunoichi of Love were rounded up and secured on the couches. The door was open and there were plenty of guys who peeked in, each amazed to see the infamous unit dispatched. "I only woke up as they finished tying me up and there was nothing I could do. Just about everyone else nearby was also captured. If it wasn't for Sun, we'd have been ruined."

"Heh, and I was only coming back for some rest," Sun laughed. "We'd been so hard pressed all day that I wanted to switch around the teams who watch the Great Wall. I pretty much arrived in time to see Ren and Yats out for the count, and to lead my squad against them."

A stroke of luck indeed. I couldn't believe how close we'd come to being ended. Even if I'd beaten Blake – and that was a technicality at best – I'd have been screwed against the girls who weren't afraid of dogs.

"Still, to take out _the_ Kunoichi of Love," Sun said. "That's pretty impressive."

"Can you expect anything less?" Yatsuhashi added. "He is our Warchief for a reason."

I didn't bother to correct that. It wasn't worth the effort. Instead I moved over to the couch Blake was on, in time to stand before her with arms crossed as she woke up. Her eyes blinked open, narrowed when she realised her predicament, and then widened again as she stared up at me. I'd done nothing to deserve victory over her but after all the crap I'd been through I felt justified in gloating just a little.

"Well, it looks like the tables have turned and it's now the Kunoichi in the Warlord's grasp. Dopes _this_ happen in your books as well, Blake?"

Her face turned a pretty pink and she glanced away.

"Yes…"

Huh. Well… there went my snappy comeback.

"Whatever. Sun, can you find somewhere to lock these girls up?"

"We're not going to trade them back?"

"Nope." I smiled at our prisoner. It was not a pleasant smile. "I think she's taught me a valuable lesson about that. Haven't you, Blake?"

She scowled back. "Don't think that this will change anything. We're committed to bringing you down no matter what it takes. Even if you lock me away, others will come. We won't stop until this uprising has been put down once and for all."

"Yeah, yeah." Sun took her hands and pushed her off the couch. "You can tell me all about it from a cell."

Ren and I watched as they left, Neptune, Yatsuhashi, Sage and Scarlet helping to take the other girls with them. As the door clicked shut, I sagged down onto one of the couches and clasped my face with both hands.

"Tough night?" Ren quipped.

"You could say that. Are you okay?"

"I didn't get to fight since I was captured the moment I woke up," he said, sitting opposite me. "I suppose my time with to Nora has left me vulnerable when I'm asleep. I'm too used to ignoring everything and sleeping heavily."

The same as me. I had to laugh.

"Something is bothering you, though," my friend said. "What is it?"

He was right. He usually was. Ren was perceptive to a fault and out of everyone in Beacon I felt he knew me the most. The attack from Blake had shaken me, but it was over and I was safe, so it wasn't that which had me on edge. If anything it was her parting words and the reality of them. The girls wouldn't stop at this.

And I'd become a target.

In hindsight it was obvious I would. I'm not sure how I missed it or the fact it would happen. The forums already had me listed as a wanted figure with a reward on my head, and whether or not I deserved to be the Warchief of everyone – and I clearly didn't – that still painted me as the enemy commander to the girls. Yet somehow I'd not realised that. I'd become complacent.

 _(Or, as Jaune so often does, he chose to underestimate himself. Even as he underestimates the impact he can have in many ways, he also underestimates the potential blow to the morale of the male forces of his defeat. This critical nature, this casual disregard of his own worth, is one of my friend's most pressing faults.)_

"They're going to keep trying to capture me, aren't they?" I asked.

"It's certainly a possibility. If we were in their shoes and had such a numerical advantage then we might try the same. I believe the adage is to cut the head from the snake."

That sounded about right. Blake had snuck in to try and take me out and short of clogging the ventilation shafts – which seemed a bad idea – there was no way to close that path. It was one of the main reasons I'd decided to keep her prisoner rather than trade her back, on the off chance she hadn't passed that information on to anyone else.

Even so, more would come. They'd either come to rescue Blake, capture me, or they'd just come to crush us once and for all. They might batter at the Great Wall, blow through the blockade and attack from the second corridor, or sneak through the vents and strike at our heart.

The reason they were able to do this over and over again was because they had all the time in the world, at least within the remaining days of the war. No one was really pressing the Objective Points, so they were able to leave a skeleton guard at each and focus on us. Since they didn't have to react to anything, they could always be the ones acting – striking first. So long as that remained the case, I'd always be in danger.

But that could be changed…

It would just take me doing the _last_ thing I wanted to do, and something so out of character for me that I felt terrified at the mere idea. That said, it was also the last thing anyone would expect, so that might give me a little freedom.

"Call Cardin," I instructed. "Tell him to leave his team to guard the points but come back here as soon as he can. Ren, I need you to gather the strongest among us, leaving aside Sun and his team."

"I can send him a text, and arrange the rest," Ren said. "But why? What should I tell them?"

With a reluctant sigh, I picked up Crocea Mors and rose to my feet.

"Tell them it's time for our offensive to begin," I whispered. Even so, in the quiet of the room, the words echoed like the tolling of a distant bell. "Tell them… tell them we're marching to war."

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **Unknown Source**

 **Female Forces**

* * *

 _Times on the front on the border of the North Wing could be long and boring, even for the best of us. I strode through our small camp with a can of soda in hand, nodding to two sentries who had a chess set between them while a third read from a book opened in one hand. Two more watched the North Wing but the overall mood was ambivalent at best. The men stayed cloistered inside and the only action we saw was the occasional force of girls going to test themselves at the so-called Great Wall._

 _Ours was just to watch and report, and that was a dull task._

" _Another quiet night," Sammy, my teammate, said as I sat down beside her. "You ever think something is going to happen?"_

" _So close to the end of the war? I doubt it. Looks to me like they're going to stay holed up in there until it's called in our favour."_

" _Not a bad thing, everything considered. At least we'll win."_

" _True…" I chuckled and sipped of my soda. "And we're not throwing ourselves against that wall."_

" _Also true. The ones that come crawling back never look good for it. I reckon it's just to keep them on the defence, you know, not give them any crazy ideas. A wall can work both ways. It keeps us out but keeps them locked inside."_

" _I like the way you think."_

 _The two of us shared a tired laugh. Our relief was scheduled for an hour or so and that was something I desperately needed after six or more hours of sentry duty. We all needed it, and the meals and sleep that would await us back in the cafeteria. When Sammy held out her empty glass I poured some of my drink into it._

" _Huh… that's odd."_

 _I glanced down to see what Sammy was talking about, only to find her inspecting her drink. It had settled in the glass but was rippling faintly, the surface disturbed every now and then. Odd._

" _I hear something," one of the sentries alerted. I leapt to my feet and rushed over to her._

" _What is it?"_

" _I… I don't know. I heard a low sound for a second."_

 _I didn't tell her she'd imagined it. I'd worked with these girls for almost five days now and trusted them more than that. Instead I closed my eyes and listened, holding a hand out for silence. The others obliged, and as quiet fell over our camp, a dull, rhythmic sound began to echo._

" _I hear it, too," Sammy whispered. "Is that… drumbeats…?"_

" _Drums in the deep," one of the chess-playing girls quipped nervously. "M-Maybe they like their music."_

 _I wasn't convinced. I listened again, and was rewarded once more with the noise – a constant and steady beat that seemed to grow louder each second. I swallowed, gripping my sword with one hand. The noise increased in volume, grew closer, and then shook us all._

 _One of the chess pieces fell over and clattered to the ground._

 _Silence._

 _I gripped Sammy's shoulder in one hand. "Run back to the cafeteria, Sammy. Run back and tell them what's happening."_

" _W-What do you mean? What is happening!?"_

 _I tried to answer, but I didn't have to._

 _A light flickered from the North Wing, looking like a flickering candle but more likely the light from a scroll's torch function. It flashed left and right, before a second flicked on, and then a third, and then more and more until the entire North seemed to glitter with lights – both on the bottom and upper floors, from windows and doors as far as the eye could see._

 _And the drums sounded again._

 _Sammy, bless her soul, followed my orders to the letter. She turned and fled, determined to bring back warning to command. As the drums echoed once more and the lights advanced, I – and those with me – drew our weapons._

 _And prepared to buy her what little time we could…_

* * *

 **Well, there's the chapter. As everyone likely knows by now it'll be three weeks to the next thanks to my week off to rest and recover. Obviously, yes, the ending here was a pretty obvious reference. I had to resist the urge to have Sammy be told to "Fly, you fool!" And maybe I should have made her a bird faunus for that purpose.**

 **I also had to resist the following dialogue.**

 **Blake: We are the Ninja of Love and we have come for you.**

 **Jaune: What's a Ninja?**

 **Blake: It's a warrior from ancient Japan.**

 **Jaune: WHAT'S A JAPAN!?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 13** **th** **January**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	10. Chapter 10

**It's been a while since I wrote a chapter of this, I suppose. It's fun to get back to it. To those who have all seen it, yes, this is definitely all about the RWBY characters getting too into a LARP experience, basically. It's an echo of their food fight moment where they divided into "Kingdoms" and waged war on one another.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – Tides of War**

" _Ladies and gentleladies, I think the time for trickery is past. Jaune has proven himself a worthy foe, as I always knew he would, despite what others may have said. It's time to give him the respect he deserves. To whatever end that may lead."_

HRH, Pyrrha Nikos

* * *

It was five in the morning and Beacon was in chaos.

That wasn't to say it hadn't been before, what with the civil war driving people into conflict left, right and centre, but the chaos now was – for once – one of my making, and that somehow made it more palatable. Even if I was completely out of the safety of Jaunehalla, I was somehow safer than if I were in my stronghold because no one expected me to be out of it. It was confusing but that was kind of the point. If it confused me then it might confuse the girls too.

`Here` was the East Wing of Beacon, of course, the one place I hadn't been too so far. Our party was a sizeable one, about fifty people all told, with me, Yatsuhashi, and Ren at the lead. Cardin and his team had taken an equally-sized force to the West Wing with instructions to cause as much trouble as possible and take over the capture points if they could. As far as plans went it wasn't a very well-thought out one but I figured that was what gave it its charm. Cardin would be able to decide for himself how he went about his work, and considering he knew more about battle than I did, that was a good thing.

Still, there wasn't much to be happy about when I was stood inside a cold and dark corridor at five in the morning. I didn't think I'd ever been awake so early, not even when Pyrrha tried to force me into early-morning jogs with her.

"There are two Objective Points in this wing," Ren counted, staring down at his scroll as the party took a rare break. I'd kept us moving thus far. Standing still for too long made me feel vulnerable; like a Nevermore caught in the scope of a huntsman.

The rest of the party seemed relieved for the break and had fanned out to lean against walls, sit on the floor or just linger around rubbing the sleep from their eyes and breaking out candy bars to wake themselves up. Many of them hadn't even been aware of the attack during the night by Blake and her group, though they'd been suitably in awe of me when they'd found out. As ever, my completely undeserved reputation continued to grow. By now the girls would know as well, realising what it meant for Blake not to return.

That had been another reason for my stroke of sudden and uncharacteristic bravery in leading the attack. Ruby could have been a fluke, especially when we outnumbered her, but my beating Blake? That was going to put the girls on edge, and if there was anything I liked less than Blake jumping me in the night (at least the real Blake and not the one who occasionally dwelled in my fantasies), then it was Yang and Weiss on edge with regards to me.

They might just have decided to storm Jaunehalla and put an end to me once and for all, and if that was going to happen then I wanted to be nowhere near it. It being the last full twenty-four-hour day, I felt that if something was going to happen it would be today.

And, if we failed, no one would be able to blame me for a coward. I'd tried to launch an attack on the last day and it had failed. Oh, well. I tried. No one could blame me for there not being enough time, eh?

"What are the two points?" I asked, suddenly aware that neither Yatsu nor Ren were speaking and that both were waiting for me to snap to attention.

"The first is Doctor Oobleck's classroom. The second is a room I don't recognise on the second floor, about two hundred metres away from the first."

"It is a private study room," Yatsuhashi said, leaning over Ren's shoulder. "Come your later exams Miss Goodwitch holds study sessions there to recap material covered in the first two years. You have likely not visited it yet."

"Is it defensible?" I asked.

"No more or less than any other classroom. One wall faces the gardens and is made entirely of windows. Another faces the hallway and is a solid wall, albeit not made of strong material. There are three entrances, one for students, one for the teachers and a fire exit leading out into another hallway. That one is locked from the inside," he added, "so we won't be able to attack from that route."

I nodded, even if I hadn't been specifically thinking of how to attack it at all. I'd been more concerned with how we might hold them afterwards and which one I wanted to commit our forces to. As far as I was concerned we'd capture one, hide there, and basically hope nothing happened until the war was over. If any girls came to reclaim it we'd either ambush them or run away as necessary. Since I personally knew Cardin would be causing absolute _havoc_ over on the other side, I intended to be as quiet as possible and basically let him draw all the attention.

He was the one who wanted a war against the girls, after all. He could have it if he was so eager.

"We'll check out Oobleck's office," I decided, if only because I needed to decide on something. "But we'll scout it first. I don't want to send anyone into a battle they can't win."

Several people nearby heard my words and made sounds of approval, their faith restored by my obvious concern for their wellbeing. To be fair I _was_ concerned for them. I needed meat shields, after all.

 _(It's worth noting that Jaune often refers to his followers as such but continued to show an unusual amount of concern for people relegated to `mere human shields`.)_

We didn't face much in the way of adversity as we made our way to Oobleck's classroom, though everyone expected it at any moment, scanning corridors with torches from scrolls as the sun began to rise over the Emerald Forest and filter in through Beacon's arched windows. I felt exposed as sunlight washed over us, the cover of night dispelled, but considering there were plenty of faunus students among the population it might not have been all that useful anyway.

Either way, the fact that we didn't run into any girls continued to concern me. I whispered as much to Ren as he walked beside me at the head of the column.

"Maybe they don't feel scouting the halls is necessary anymore," he said. "The Girl Scouts were designed to root out loose and lost men and capture them. Most of those not captured are fighting with us now."

"They should still be watching the corridors for an attack," Yatsuhashi warned. "The War Chief is correct. Something is wrong here."

"It's negligent I'll admit, but they might not expect us to _make_ an attack."

"That's true," I said, a little comforted even if Yatsu's paranoia echoed my own. "Keep your eyes open but Ren might be on the right track. By all accounts we're outnumbered and out equipped. They'd never expect us to leave Jaunehalla."

"But little do they realise your genius," Yatsu chuckled.

I smiled as best I could and ignored the sense of doubt gnawing away at me. Someone better-suited than me should have been in charge but that was something I'd known and accepted days back. Sadly, someone better-suited _wasn't_ in charge and that meant I had to make the decisions and hope for the best.

When we got close to the classroom, or at least only a few corridors away, I stopped the procession and moved over to Ren. I kept my voice quiet but just loud enough for those around me to hear, knowing they'd pass the message on down.

"You're the quietest and the least likely to panic. Can you scout ahead and see if there are any guards on the point?"

Ren nodded and was gone a second later, stealthily making his way through the corridor. Everyone else remained quiet, waiting for his task to be completed, and I took the time to draw out my scroll and see if there had been any correspondence from the others. I had a few messages.

 _Sender: Russel_

 _Subject: Daily Prayer_

 _Love the War Chief, for He will be the salvation of Mankind. Obey His words, for He will lead you into the light of the future. Heed His wisdom, for He will protect you from women. Whisper His prayers with devoti-_

And deleted. I wasn't sure why he'd felt the need to include me in that and I wasn't sure I wanted to find out why – or why people needed daily prayers in what appeared to be _my_ honour. I dreaded to imagine how many there might be.

 _(Over one-hundred and twenty-six as of my last counting. The list may have grown since then.)_

A few other messages were similar, along with one from Pyrrha to surrender and give myself up to her and then a long list of the reasons why, most of which I ignored. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, more that I trusted Nora too much. She'd said she would have us in dresses and by the Gods, if she got the chance, she would.

One from Sun caught my eye, however

 _Sender: Monkey King_

 _Subject: Where are all the grills?_

 _Yo, boss man._

 _The Wall has been quiet since Blake's attack. Like, completely quiet. The guys are a little tense so I cracked out some chocolate to calm them down. Be careful, though. I'm not sure what the girls are up to but I don't like the fact they're not showing up today._

 _Keep your eyes open._

Well, that wasn't ominous at all. It hardly helped that Sun had as good as echoed my thoughts about how quiet it was. Short of the girls all coming down with food sickness, which I felt Ozpin would have cancelled the war over, there was no chance they'd just `give up` like this. There was something going on, I just knew it.

"Jaune," Yatsu hissed. I leapt to attention, but the man's face wasn't afraid – it was excited. "Come over here," he beckoned. When I did he pointed down to his scroll. "Look, both the capture points in the West Wing."

They were blue. Cardin had taken them. Both of them…

It was too good to be true.

"Something isn't right here…" I said. It was a feeling deep in my gut, one that I'd felt time and time again and come to trust ever since the war began. It was a feeling that told me I wasn't seeing the big picture. Ren returned before my paranoia could make me turn the entire army around and march home.

"There are some girls there," he said. "About ten or so outside and maybe fifteen in, twenty-five in all. I didn't recognise any of them as being particularly dangerous. It's a mix of first and second years at best."

My brows furrowed. "That's all?"

"Twenty-five people is not an insignificant number, Jaune."

"I know, but I was expecting someone in charge. There's only nine capture points and three are in their territory. Why not have Nora, Yang, Weiss, or Coco lead a place like this?" I swallowed nervously. "It just doesn't make sense to leave it so undefended."

"Like I said, they're not expecting an attack. Our group was one of the biggest in Beacon when it was ten strong. They wouldn't need more than twenty-five to lock down a location like this. This isn't undefended at all. By virtue of what they expect to face, it's over-defended."

Again, he wasn't wrong. It was just that I was on edge, probably from being outside of the relatively safety of our stronghold for the first time since we'd reached the North Wing. I shook it off and patted my hands together to generate some warmth. Ultimately if the girls were going to launch a counter-attack to try and reclaim these sectors then they'd have already done so towards Cardin. If we were going to come under attack we'd get a warning from his side first since the girls would reach them before us.

We'd come here for the express purpose of attacking and taking these locations to draw the girls away from Jaunehalla and keep me out of their clutches. There wasn't much point coming all this way to back down now.

"Okay," I said, motioning for Ren and Yatsu to come close. "Here's how we're going to do it."

/-/

The plan, like most of mine, was fairly simple. Someone lent me a hood to hide my face and I pulled it up, sticking my hands in my pockets and slumping forward like I was tired and hungry. I nodded to the twenty or so boys waiting behind me, knowing that Yatsuhashi would have the rest on the other side, and sauntered out – directly into the corridor that connected to Oobleck's classroom.

One might have wondered, if they knew the real me, why I was willing to use myself as bait. It was a decision that must have seemed uncharacteristic in the extreme, maybe even foolish, but there was always a method to what might have seemed like madness.

The thing is, there was only one role for the bait; be seen, be chased, and lead the other party to a certain location. It was an age-old strategy used in everything from combat to fishing or even making people buy food by wafting sweet-smelling pastries out the door of a bakery. The bait didn't have to do much other than lure people into an ambush.

The ambushers, on the other hand, would have to be the ones to actually spring it – and to descend on a group of startled huntresses. Huntresses that were, by their very nature, creatures you really didn't want to startle, especially when they were armed.

The girls didn't see me immediately as I stepped out into their corridor. They were distracted chatting among themselves. They picked up my footsteps as I approached, however, and readied their weapons. All conversation stopped and their eyes bored into mine, even from down the hallway. Honestly, I'd expected them to attack – counted on it, really – but they stood warily, perhaps aware of recent events or just not nearly as gullible as I'd believed.

The whole `bait` thing wasn't looking quite as attractive as it had a few minutes earlier… back when I'd assumed they'd give chase the second they saw me and I could just lazily slip back into cover and be done with it.

 _(No plan survives contact with the enemy. I was told later that the girls had a similar saying; `No plan survives contact with Jaune`. In this regard it was probably a bit of both.)_

That looked less and less likely and my pace slowed as I came closer and closer and still they didn't attack. Eventually I came to a stop around thirty metres away, judging that a safe distance for me to make a tactical retreat if necessary.

"Who goes there?" one of the girls, a blonde I didn't recognise, demanded.

I couldn't give my real name lest the information get back Pyrrha. Blake's attack had already shown they wanted me out of the picture and knowing I was in their territory with just fifty men would bring them all down on my head.

Sadly, and to my eternal mortification, that meant I had to adopt the persona expected of someone under my command…

"I am a representative of the War Chief Jaune Arc!" I declared. The title and pomp had me praying for a hole to open beneath my feet and swallow me.

"The King in the North," a brunette whispered. She was quickly shushed by the others and a stern glare from the blonde, who acted and looked like the leader.

"We've heard of him," she said, the effect of her dismissive tone lessened somewhat by the awed and nervous expressions of those behind her.

Nervous about _me_ , of all things…

"We don't recognise or accept his position, however," the girl continued. "As far as we're concerned he can call himself what he wants. He's just a coward hiding in the auditorium. He wouldn't dare show his face out here."

The desire to prove her wrong was strong but it warred against my self-preservation saying it was _good_ that they thought I was elsewhere. Like many things that went against my survival instincts, pride lost. It lost _hard_.

"Under the command of Jaune Arc, Warchief and… King of the North," I added, cringing as yet another ridiculous moniker was added to the ever-growing list, "I demand you lay down your weapons and surrender this position to us immediately."

She scoffed. "Or what?"

"Or," I said, lowering my arms, "we'll take it from you. I thought that was implied…"

"You and what army?"

"This army."

It was with relief that I watched the two ambushing forces step forward, having heard my cue and thankfully figuring out the ambush was off. I didn't want to think what might have happened if they'd waited. As it was the girls tensed as they approached, easily seeing they were outnumbered and huddling against the doorway.

I felt my confidence bolstered when I had a sizeable force behind me. I kept the hood up, concealing my face, but there was no hiding the smugness in my voice. "There. Will that do?"

"I-It's only two to one odds," the blonde said. "We have the defensible position and can call for help. Do you really think you can take us on?"

"Two against one?" I asked. "Oh, you mean with the fifteen or so inside, right?" I laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't count them." My smirk grew. "Or my men inside."

Her eyes widened. "W-What!?"

"This was just a distraction to keep you busy," I said. "While I kept you distracted and the boys here kept you from rushing back in, our main force slipped in through the fire exit and captured your friends."

"B-But the exit can only be opened from the inside."

"I know. That's why we slipped in an infiltrator. You'd be surprised what a little make-up can accomplish."

One of the other girls gasped. "It's a trap!"

"Yes," I said. "Literally and figuratively. So, how about that surrender? Or do you really fancy your chances five to one?"

For a second it looked like she might – but she was no Pyrrha and neither was anyone else in her party. The blonde lowered her weapon, which was quickly taken from her hand by Yatsuhashi. Others stepped forward to divest the rest of weapons, some surrendered more reluctantly than others. Once that was done the girls were turned around and bound with their wrists behind them, tied by shoelaces we'd stolen from the supply room by the auditorium.

"You won't get away with this," the blonde said as I took her and stepped towards the door.

"I think I already have." I placed one foot on the door and pushed it open – and my prisoner's eyes widened comically. "We have your guards as hostages," I called to the girls assembled within. "You're outnumbered. Surrender or we'll be forced to make you."

"B-But you said…" the girl gasped. "You lied!?"

"Yep."

"You fiend!"

"Yep."

"You coward!"

"Yep."

I pushed into the classroom, the rest of the boys behind me, all of us using our new prisoners as shields. The girls inside looked nervous at first but that soon grew to a defeated silence as the full scope of the difference between us became apparent. They might have been able to hold us off with only two-to-one odds, but fifteen against fifty? Not likely.

We captured the point without a single shot being fired.

/-/

After we'd taken the first point the men spread out and began to fortify the position, turning Oobleck's prized classroom into some kind of fortress of desks and chairs, all stacked up and facing the main entrance, with a smaller one guarding the teacher's entrance and the fire exit left bare, our retreat point if necessary. Cardin might have pushed on to try and claim both without fear but I wasn't going to do that, not when it meant splitting our forces and leaving us weak to a counter-attack.

Yet, as an hour passed, no counter-attack came, nor so much as a probing attack to find out what had happened to their point. It left me, to put it lightly, on edge.

"This doesn't make sense," I said to Ren and Yatsuhashi. "The girls have always had the upper-hand. There's no way they'd just ignore this happening, not so close to the finish line."

"This may be the last full day, but the war ends tomorrow at noon," Yatsuhashi pointed out. "They don't necessarily need to rush to reclaim this area."

"They may be waiting for us to over-extend," Ren said, agreeing with the giant of a man. "The longer we hold these positions the further we stretch our supply lines. Rather than attack now and give us a chance to reclaim it tomorrow, they may let us have it and attack at the last second."

"Maybe," I allowed. "It's just that they've not done that before. Ruby told us that Weiss and Yang are Pyrrha's main advisors. It just doesn't make sense for them to be so patient."

"Impatience has served them poorly thus far," Yatsu pointed out. "Perhaps they have learned from their mistakes."

Again, everything they said made sense but there was no ignoring the feeling in my gut, the one right below my stomach telling me it was time to poo myself or run – maybe both. We were right next to the central spire of Beacon, the main tower, cafeteria and the seat of the women's power. What's more, we were stood still and _clearly_ marked on the maps as being in control of this point.

We were sitting ducks!

And yet… nothing…

Cardin hadn't been attacked either, as evidenced by the fact both his capture points were firmly blue. I'd received and approved a request earlier for him to summon more men from Jaunehalla to hold them, and then received a follow-up to say they'd arrived without any problems. That made me even more anxious.

"Do we have guards outside?" I asked suddenly.

"Ten," Ren answered. "I also have four teams of two scouting the halls, staying hidden and reporting back every ten minutes. So far they've reported back flawlessly and there's no indication they've come into any trouble."

"What about the fire exit?" I asked.

"I have a sentry at the window watching it," Yatsu replied, pointing to the alert teen watching the metal staircase outside. "If they try to approach, even if they can't open the door, we shall know of it. None have tried so far."

"And supplies?"

"We received fresh food and some reinforcements fifteen minutes ago," Ren pointed out. "You accepted them yourself."

"Of course, of course." I'd forgotten, too panicked.

Ren touched my arm. "Jaune, what's wrong?"

"This is too easy. Something is wrong."

"Perhaps we've caught them off-guard. That _was_ the plan, no?" He smiled when I nodded. "There, you've shown yet again why you're in command here. We've won the most unlikely of victories, and often because the girls have underestimated or reacted rashly. That they are taking the time to think things through now is to be expected. They're simply giving you the caution you deserve."

"Right," I agreed, breathing a little easier.

It wasn't them laying some kind of elaborate trap; it was just that they thought _I_ might be, and that they didn't want to run into it like they had before. That made sense, enough so that I was able to relax at last.

"The respect I deserve, huh…?"

My scroll buzzed.

Yatsu and Ren glanced down at it and then up at me, suddenly alert. I swallowed and reached down for it, dreading that the display might show Pyrrha or Nora. It didn't. It showed Abs9001, who I recalled was Sun adding himself to my scroll with a stupid name. I answered the call.

"He-"

" _We're under attack!"_ Sun screamed. His voice cut off but the sound didn't and the unmistakable noise of weapons clashing against weapons, screams, battle-cries and combat swamped Oobleck's classroom. Everyone turned towards the scroll, towards me.

I had no idea what to say.

Luckily, Sun didn't wait for me to. _"They came out of nowhere. There's – ah – there's too many!_ " His voice became a little distant, as if he'd moved the scroll away from his mouth. _"Fall back! Back to the third wall! Hold the line there!"_

"Sun," I gasped, holding the device close to my face. "Sun, what's going on? Speak to me!"

" _We're – shit-"_ There was a clash of steel too close for comfort, undoubtedly aimed for him as he parried an attack. There was a feminine gasp and suddenly Sun was back. _"There are too many of them, man. We're not going to be able to hold!"_

"What about the others in Jaunehalla?" I asked. "Get them to help you."

" _They already are! It's a full-scale invasion. It's-"_ Sun cut off with a strangled cry – and through the speaker I clearly heard two roars, a feminine one of triumph, and a male one of rage and fear.

"Sun! Sun! Answer me!" The scroll clicked and moved, scraping against the floor. It was raised up and I caught the sound of breathing. "Sun, you-"

" _Hello Jaune."_

I froze. The voice, which had echoed out of the scroll, was enough to freeze everyone else in the room as well. Everyone with a Y-chromosome, at least. I swallowed audibly. "Pyrrha…"

" _It's so good to hear your voice again,"_ Pyrrha said, audibly cutting her way through a guy's guard and kicking him to the floor. _"It's been weird not waking up to see one another. I've missed you."_

"Y-Yeah… I've missed you, too."

" _It'll be over soon, though,"_ she said, and I had the feeling she didn't mean the Civil War. _"You just wait in there for us to come and get you. Once you're a prisoner we can be a proper team again. Won't that be grand?"_

Grand…

" _I have to go now, I'm afraid. Just wait for me to wrap up this battle and I'll come get you. See you soon~"_ The call cut off with a happy laugh.

My hand fell to my side.

The room was completely silent.

The respect I deserved… they'd given me that, alright – or at least what they thought I deserved. They hadn't just prepared an ambush but launched an invasion on Jaunehalla to crush it once and for all. They'd sought to cut off not only the head of the snake but every single part of it, and probably marshalled most of their forces to do so. It would be a final battle to decide everything.

Except that, by a stroke of luck, I wasn't there.

 _(Luck and a healthy dose of fear, to be precise.)_

"Jaunehalla…" Yatsuhashi breathed. "We have to help them!"

"No," I snapped. "We can't."

"What do you mean? Our forces are there, our supplies, the food we need to last the final twenty-four hours. Jaunehalla is everything."

"They're already breaking through the wall," I said. "By the time we arrive they'll have taken the whole place. We'll run straight into our own defences, except manned by people like Pyrrha and Nora. Do you think we can win that?"

"No, but what do we do from here? We can't go back to being nomads."

No, we couldn't. That wasn't to say I was against the idea but I knew full well the girls wouldn't rest. Whether Jaunehalla fell or not I needed to be made an example of and the moment I was on my own – tired and hungry – I'd be found. They'd also have freed Blake now, and since Zwei was in Jaunehalla – now a captive himself – I wouldn't have a defence against the faunus. She'd find me and exact her vengeance in full.

And that was if Nora didn't get to my first. The moment she broke through the wall and realised Ren wasn't there…? Gods, it would be bad.

"We can't do anything for Jaunehalla now," I said.

"You can surrender," someone suggested. It was the blonde from earlier and she looked incredibly smug now, even as a prisoner. "I bet you thought we were dumb having no one here to defend. Little did you realise your precious King of the North was being hunted down."

I stared at her. "You knew?"

"Ha, of course. It was planned from this morning and just about everyone was sent – all our best fighters from first years to third and everyone in between." She laughed. "Your _King_ doesn't stand a chance against our Queen."

"All your best fighters?" I asked.

"Every single one of them - Pyrrha, Yang, even the whole Valkyrie Squadron and all the Girl Scouts. He's not going to be able to worm his way out of this one. Your little rebellion is _over_."

"Not yet it's not," I said, pulling my hood back and revealing my face.

The girl stared at me, unimpressed.

"Is your face supposed to mean something? I'd give it a five out of ten."

"I'm Jaune Arc," I said. "I _am_ the King of the North."

The assembled girls stared at me. Some of them were transfer students but many weren't, some were even in my year! That said, it was probably a good sign of my popularity before the war that they scrunched their faces up in confusion, apparently trying to remember my face.

"I thought he was six-foot tall and rippling with muscle," one said.

"I heard he has eyes like the ocean."

"The Queen said he was handsome…"

"He's meant to look cool and imposing."

"Nah, this is just some wannabe. Go back to the North, nerd."

My hand clenched into a fist and shook before me, even as a tear fell from one eye. Even when I was popular I wasn't. What cruel irony. When I turned back to Ren and the others I'd managed to hide the tatters of my ego, just barely.

"What do we do?" Ren asked, and all the other men crowded around, waiting to hear my answer. "Jaunehalla is under attack and our forces are scattered. Even if we could gather them into one spot I'm not sure it would be enough to stop the attack."

"It won't be," I acknowledged. "Jaunehalla has fallen."

Everyone's faces fell. Morale plummeted in an instant.

"How can we recover?" Yatsuhashi asked. "We've lost almost a third of our men, not to mention our base and all the food it contained. How are we supposed to continue fighting?"

How?

The answer was obvious.

"We recruit more," I said. "And we make for ourselves a new home."

"There aren't any more free-men, Warchief."

"No, there isn't." I picked up Crocea Mors and strapped it to my waist. "But there's a whole load of captured men, not to mention a cafeteria full of supplies. Supplies which I'm told aren't being guarded by their best fighters anymore," I added with a smug look to our prisoners. The woman blanched, realising her error.

"You want us to attack the prison," Ren gasped – and the news travelled quickly through the small army behind him, who shifted and glanced at one another in a combination of shock, horror and desperate hope.

"The library," I agreed, recalling that was where Ruby had said the men were held – nearly _half_ of all the guys in Beacon, most of which had fallen in the early days of the war. "But also the cafeteria, the central tower, and everything else there."

It was a mad plan, a suicidal plan, but also the last idea I had. I drew Crocea Mors and held it before me, imagining for once that I might be the leader these desperate people believed in. Nor the leader they needed, but the one they somehow thought I was.

"We've gone hungry for too long, boys. What's say we show the girls what it feels like?"

Yatsu slammed a fist to his chest. "I am with you, Warchief."

"Where else would I go?" Ren asked, chuckling. "To whatever end this may be, I'm with you."

"So am I!" someone cried.

"And me!" another yelled.

"You have my axe!" one hollered.

"And my fire-sword!"

"And _my_ trumpet!"

"Dude, what?"

"It's a weapon, okay. Deal with it."

As the crowd roared and built themselves into a frenzy I stepped outside the room and waited for them to get ready. Out of sight, out of mind, I let out a long, shuddering breath and placed a hand against my face. This was a terrible, terrible, idea. Even if they'd left a skeleton guard there was still the main army to deal with, who weren't going to be much pleased when they realised what we'd done. And then there were the prisoners, many of whom might not be willing to fight. So many had given up hope already, after all…

A hand fell on my shoulder.

"This is all you can do," Ren said.

"It's a fool's decision," I countered. "We're going to be marching to our doom."

"Well, at least if that's the case we won't have far to travel to reach the prisons." He smiled and patted my shoulder. "That's a relief. Whatever comes, make-up or pink frilly dresses, we'll go through it together."

I smiled, laughed, and took his hand in mine.

"Together." I said. "But let's not rule our chances out just yet."

Ren watched as I drew out my scroll. "Oh?"

"I have a call to make."

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **Lie Ren**

 **An account pieced together after the war by discussing with both Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose**

* * *

 _The final wall of the Great Wall fell at ten am, the brave men there having held out for over three hours before they finally gave way. Though they were captured to a man, none able – nor willing – to flee, the effort involved left the female forces exhausted and spent, desperate for rest and recovery. As many made to do just that, some moving to free the Ninjas of Love taken prisoner the night before, and HRH Pyrrha Nikos moved to greet the defeated King in his quarters, a lone scroll discarded on the floor began to buzz._

 _None made to answer it, too tired for such things and many recognising it was not their own. Even in war, privacy was respected. One did, however. No woman of Beacon, no huntress, but a male figure who plodded forward on all fours to investigate the interesting sound._

 _Zwei pressed his nose to the screen._

" _Neptune?" a familiar voice asked._

" _Arf!" Zwei replied, wagging his tail. He recognised the voice easily._

" _Zwei, is that you?"_

 _The corgi spun on the spot, excited at the use of its name._

" _Everyone has already…? Damn it. I'm too late."_

 _Zwei whined in confusion and tilted his head._

 _The familiar face in the strange rectangle paused. When he spoke again his voice was high-pitched, energetic, and filled with glee. "Hey Zwei. Good boy. Do you know what time it is?"_

 _The corgi panted happily at the tone and barked twice._

" _That's right," the voice said. "It's breakfast time!"_

 _Recognising the word, Zwei hopped up and down._

" _Where's your food, boy?"_

 _Zwei turned in the direction of his biscuits, recognising the Godly word that so many others used when it was time for feeding. The bag was atop a trolley of plates, meals, and other assorted goods he also would have liked but knew better than to try and steal. It was right at the top, out of reach, and the corgi whined piteously._

" _Go get your food, boy!" the voice cajoled. "Good boy. Go get it!"_

 _Zwei's tail wagged. "Arf?"_

" _That's right. Get it! Get the food! Good boy! Go on! Get it! Fetch!"_

 _The final word struck a chord inside of him. Zwei's legs were moving before his brain could and he hurled himself forward, streaking across the floor as his stubby legs powered away. With a mighty cry – a mix of a howl and a roar – the diminutive corgi crashed into the food supplies, scattering them everywhere and bringing the bag of dog biscuits clattering down to the floor._

 _As all the human food was squashed into the floor, the corgi gripped the bag between his teeth and hauled it into the air._

" _Good boy!" the familiar voice cackled, before the scroll went dead._

" _ZWEIIII!" Ruby cried, aghast. "Not the food!"_

 _Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie made no discernible words. Discovering their respective quarries was nowhere to be found…_

 _They simply screamed in rage._

* * *

 **Zwei the ever-hero, even defeated and captured does he deny the women their prize at the last. Truly it is He we should be singing our praises to. Praise be unto Him. And alas for Sun, defeated in the line of duty. Press F to pay respects.**

 **And so it comes that Jaunehalla has fallen – but have the women made a grave mistake? Not giving Jaune enough credit bit them in the backside but now they've given him** _ **all**_ **the credit. We'll see how far that gets them.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 27th January**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	11. Chapter 11

**I've had a few people ask about references and such, and I'd like to take a quick moment to say that this fic is full of them from movies, books, and all sorts of things. It's only this story, however, and it's because it is a parody. For those who asked because they're not sure whether they should use them or not, the answer is almost always `don't`. However, if it's a pure parody – and I mean a parody, not a comedy – then it's usually considered okay. The story doesn't take itself seriously, so references and even memes if you want them are seen as tongue in cheek. I'd never put them in a normal story, however. Not unless they're by accident, etc…**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 11 – King of Men**

" _Ten thousand miles away or more, it makes little difference. Jaunehalla was not a single location, but an ideal set within the hearts of men. And ideals, my brother, cannot be destroyed."_

High Priest Russel Thrush

The Book of Jaune, Chapter 4, Verse XVII

* * *

Time wasn't on our side.

Nothing was, really, and that had been a constant for the whole war, but time especially wasn't on our side since I knew the girls would be resting after their conquest of Jaunehalla, preparing for the march back to the cafeteria. We needed to own that before they arrived otherwise we'd be stranded once more, but after leaving ten men to guard the objective point we'd captured, I now had less than forty in total.

Even if the majority of the girls had gone north in search of battle, there would be more than forty in the cafeteria. Pyrrha wasn't _that_ foolish. I might have bought some time by having Zwei destroy the food supplies we'd left behind, but not much. As I said, time wasn't on our side, and numbers – time's ally – was also standing against us.

"The prisons won't be unguarded," Yatsuhashi said. "Even if the laws of this war prevent the prisoners from escaping on their own, the women will have stationed powerful guards to prevent an attempt of a rescue."

I knew that. I was banking on our numbers being enough, or at least in them being enough to cause a diversion. "Ren," I said, "What are the rules for freeing prisoners? What do we have to do?"

Ren pulled out his scroll and checked it while maintaining his pace. "A fighter from the same side, who is not a prisoner, must touch the captured student and tell them they are free. That's pretty much it. No wait, if there's a guard within ten metres then they must be subdued first."

Damn it. There went my hope of just telling everyone to sprint through the guards and free all the men, then using our increased numbers to cause a rout. It looked like Miss Goodwitch had thought of that, otherwise we could have snuck someone in ages ago and caused a prison riot.

"We'll need to convince the guards to leave, then," I said.

"How do you intend to achieve that?" Yatsu asked.

"Depends on who's in charge of guarding them, I guess."

Ahead of us the corridor widened and the walls became better decorated, welcoming us into the central hub of Beacon, the nexus by which all the academy's wings were joined together. It was the part of the school most visitors saw, and as a result the part that was kept cleanest and held the best sectors; the cafeteria, the library, the fighting rings, and also a fitness gym with plenty of equipment, not to mention the headmaster's office which was obviously off-limits in the war.

In every way that counted, the central part of Beacon was the seat of power for the school, and had been the seat of power for the women since the war began. I still couldn't believe we were going to try and challenge that, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

 _(And we were nothing if not desperate men…)_

Our sprint slowed to a jog, and then to a walk, as we entered the belly of the beast. Men sent furtive looks down long corridors that could have houses any number of ambushers and for some it must have been the first time they'd been here since the war began. I gestured for silence and pressed my back against the corner of a corridor, poking my head out to look down towards the entrance to the cafeteria.

There were quite a few women there, some of whom I recognised. Coco was the most familiar, her deadly handbag at her side, but I also spotted Velvet's distinctive ears. All in all there were at least fifteen outside, and I had to assume at least forty or more in. There was no way the cafeteria would be less defended than a single objective point in the East Wing.

"It's still guarded," I whispered to Ren and Yatsu. They nodded and stepped back. We retraced our steps in the other direction, until we came to an intersection that led towards the library, where Ruby had told us the men were kept prisoner. A quick look around the corner provided for an even less welcome sight.

"Weiss," Ren said. "I guess they didn't send _all_ the best fighters to the front line. It makes sense. She could use her glyphs and dust abilities to close off the entire corridor in ice if she wanted to. It would be enough time for her to stall until reinforcements came from the cafeteria."

"There are only twenty or so guarding the library," Yatsuhashi pointed out. "It _is_ the easier target."

"But the cafeteria isn't even two minutes away. Reinforcements would arrive almost straight after we engage them."

They were both correct, of course. There wasn't much we could do. The forces we needed were in the library and the only way we'd reach them was if Weiss and her lot were taken out first. I couldn't free any if she was close enough to invalidate it. Since this was basically on the teacher's doorsteps, they'd surely be watching.

Wait… that was it.

I turned to the others and grinned. "I have an idea."

/-/

As ideas went it wasn't exactly a subtle one. Weiss stared at me with her mouth open, hands slack at her side. The other guards stared as well, far too shocked to attack, raise the alarm, or even make a move to capture me. All they did was stare... it was a little awkward, honestly.

I strummed a hand nervously over the strings of the guitar. It hadn't taken long for someone who owned one to sprint back to their room and pick it up. It wasn't tuned, but that was fine. I wasn't a very good player anyway.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to Weiss Schnee," I said. "The most beautiful girl in all of Beacon… it's… uh… it's called `Be mine`."

Weiss' mouth worked open and shut. "Ack… you… hng…"

With permission granted, I took a deep breath and dove right in. "Oh, Weiss Schnee. She's the bee's knees. She's so damn pretty, that I wrote this ditty. People might call her cold, but if I can be so bold, I think she's the most gorgeous girl in Beacon~"

"Arc…" Weiss growled. Her face was red and against all odds I dared to hope. Was she actually blushing? Had I finally managed to thaw the ice about her heart? Weiss' crimson face only got brighter, but when she took a step forward, it didn't look like running into my arms was on her mind.

More like running me through…

"Stop that immediately!" she hissed.

"And though she always rejects me, I hope that now she can see – how much I looo-"

"Stop! Stop it now!"

"Her bites as strong as her bark, but when I'm alone in the dark, I hope that one day… I hope that one day… she'll call herself Mrs A-" I ducked an icicle that would have struck my throat. It shattered on the wall behind me. I winced. "No good?"

"I'm going to _kill_ you!" Weiss shrieked, charging forward. "No one will find your body!"

The moment she moved, so too did the others. I wasn't sure if that was to support her or prevent her from following through on her threat and actually ending me then and there. There was no telling how serious she was. Either way, I did what I did best and shrieked like a little girl. My legs were running before my brain even told them to.

"Get back here Arc!" Weiss howled, from the sounds of it almost in stabbing distance behind me. "If you want to sing I'll give you a few new air holes in your throat. Maybe someone can use you as a flute!"

"Would you have to kiss me to do that?"

"ARGHHH!"

Okay, wrong thing to ask. I ducked again as something flew overhead. At the intersection ahead I took a right, diving into cover as the girls skidded into the crossroads and came face to face with at least twenty men, all armed and ready. Weiss cursed and looked in the other direction, seeing just as many on the other end and now rushing in to pincer them.

That didn't stop her lunging for me, however.

"Charge!" I shrieked. "Charge them now!"

"I'll mount your head on my wall, Jaune Arc!"

I barely got Crocea Mors up in time to parry the strike – and I whispered a quick thank you to Pyrrha for the training that allowed me to do it – before the battle lines closed and it turned into a confusing mess of a brawl. I lost sight of Weiss in the melee and found myself facing a different girl instead, some green-haired chick from Mistral. She darted in and under my guard and kicked me in the stomach, but her finishing blow was blocked by a pair of green blades. Ren pushed her back and away, stepping over my body to save my life.

The fight was wild and uncontrolled, locked in a corridor really too small for it, and many were the people who couldn't even swing their weapons properly for the fact that walls, or even other people, got in the way. Yatsuhashi's giant frame was visible above it all, but everything else was a mishmash of colour, shouting, and the clash of steel. I pushed through in search of someone to fight but somehow ended up getting lost and ending up outside of the fight entirely.

 _(Odd considering that Jaune's sense of direction is normally without fault. He did tend to find himself `lost` during fights rather often, however, sometimes missing them entirely. I'm sure this malady troubled him greatly.)_

Outside of the fight and with Crocea Mors in hand I took a moment to catch my breath and assess the situation. The noise we'd caused was nothing short of a racket, and I doubted those in the cafeteria could have missed it. Worse, we weren't winning quite as fast as I would have liked – and that wasn't just a case of Weiss fighting like a cornered animal, but the battlefield not allowing us to bring out numbers to our advantage. Many were the men forced to awkwardly wait their turn on the back end of the fight.

But the battle was a small distance away from the library, I realised. Easily twenty metres or more – enough to count against Weiss for the rules of the war. "Keep them busy!" I called, turning and rushing for the library. All I needed to do was free the prisoners inside and we'd be saved. A pleased laugh escaped me as I reached the library, ran my ID card down the lock, and kicked it open.

Two hundred or more faces turned in my direction. All of them were male.

"No guards on the inside?" I said, and laughed once I realised it was true. That was perfect. I dashed in and slapped a hand against one man's shoulder. "You're free. Quickly, free the others and prepare to fight." I reached over to touch a second, and then a third. "Go, go, go. We need your help outside!" I rushed for another table, where several men were reading comics or books and repeated the message, but my smile soon faded and died.

None of them had moved.

"What are you lot doing?" I asked. I didn't shout but in the silence I might as well have. Everyone heard me. "You're free," I repeated, touching a silver-haired teen once more. "The girls outside are busy so you're safe to move. You can free everyone else and we'll all be out of here in a minute or two."

Still, there was no movement. The man I'd touched, the man I'd freed, refused to meet my eyes, but he did speak.

"What's the point?"

"E-Excuse me…?"

"What's the point?" the silver-haired teen asked, still not meeting my eyes. "They'll just capture us again and the war ends tomorrow. We might as well just call it over."

There was a murmur of agreement from the other prisoners, most of which had their eyes fixed firmly on the floor or the tables in front of them. I heard someone mention how they were fed, another on how they were safe. "It's easier than fighting," a third said.

None disagreed, and I knew in that instant what had happened.

They'd lost their hope.

They'd given up.

I wasn't sure how I'd forgotten, or maybe I hadn't but I'd allowed myself to get caught up in this crazy fantasy everyone else was living. Most of the people here had been caught when the war began, but yet more had surrendered of their own volition, trading freedom for food at a time when they needed it most. They didn't have any hope because they'd never had reason to, and hadn't I been the same not so long ago? Wasn't I still the same? It was only the threat of what Nora planned to do to Ren and I that had kept me from surrendering at the outset of the war.

I wasn't some hero; I wasn't even the War Chief my people thought I was. I was just a fraud and a fake too frightened to admit they had me wrong, that they'd pinned their hopes on the wrong guy.

But even so… despite all of that…

"Look me in the eyes and say that," I said. "Don't you dare tell me you won't fight without looking me in the eye!"

The man from before, the one who had spoken, did do. His eyes were dull, flat, and filled with something that couldn't be placed by words alone. He was like a caged animal made docile, fed until he was fattened and now waiting patiently, curled up by his master's feet, content to bark for treats and – if he was lucky – a pat on the back.

I saw that same look in all of them. Not a one of them had come from our group, from Jaunehalla. None of them had stood and fought, but not because they were cowards. They hadn't because they'd never been given the chance, because they'd found themselves trapped in an unwinnable situation.

The sounds of battle outside grew in volume, the battle cries of more women echoing through the halls as the guards from the cafeteria joined the fray – out numbering my forces at last. It would be over soon. If I wanted to, if I let it, we could fail here. I could hide among the prisoners and there probably wasn't enough time for Nora to do anything too embarrassing to us. The war was over tomorrow, and all the girls would be too tired from breaking through Sun's Great Wall. We could end it here and no one would be any the wiser. The guys would hear about it afterwards and shake their heads. They'd talk of how I'd tried my best but come up against a bunch of cowards who didn't dare fight. No fault of mine, or theirs, just bad luck and some people being pansies. I could give up now… and no one would fault me…

I pulled forth a chair from the table, scraping it across the wooden floor. Prisoners looked up, but eyes widened as I didn't sit on it. I stepped on the chair instead, and then used it to step up onto the table in front of me. In clear view of everyone, and with the backdrop of battle behind, I spread my arms wide.

"Look at you!" I said. "Look at you all, beaten and defeated, look at your faces, your hands, your eyes. Do you know what I see when I look at you?"

"Cowards?" the one from before muttered.

"Cowards? Is that what I see?" I looked out over them and there was not a one who didn't duck his head when I passed by. Shoulders hunched and hands clenched into fists all across the library. With a sigh, I dropped my arms. "That isn't what I see. I see men who have been bested and those who have given up hope. I see despair and defeat, but more than any of that I see my own reflection. I see myself in you. Every single one of you! I see a frightened and skittish lamb desperately wishing to be something more, and I _know_ what it's like to be there. I see the eyes that stare back at me every time I look in the mirror and ask, for the one hundredth time, just why I'm in Beacon."

"But I see more than that." I met the gaze of one man who dared look up, his eyes wide. "I see men who have been defeated. I see men who have faced adversity and failed to best it, and yes, even men who saw no other option when times were bad. I see men who _failed_ , but I don't see men who didn't try their hardest!"

"I see proud huntsmen. I see fighters, warriors, heroes, all. I see people who stood up against the Grimm, who faced down Beowolves the likes of which would send _any_ sane person running for their lives. I see the best of the best – men who never back down but who never got the chance to fight because of how this war was sprung on us, because we never had a fair chance when the cafeteria was taken on day one and we were left without food!"

A few of them whispered and hissed in response. Eyes flashed and hands clenched into fists. It wasn't fair. It never had been, and they damn well knew that.

"I can't turn back time and I can't change the way things are. I'm just one man, one lamb, but I'm here stood before a pen of wolves. I stand before men whose hands grasp for weapons that aren't there, and who never had a chance to prove that they are _men_! I stand here and call upon you – not with promises of victory – but with a promise that right here, right now, I can give you that chance you never had! That I can give you that _one moment_ of glory, that second where we rise up and show the women of Beacon that we _are_ their equals, that we _won't_ surrender and run away with our tails tucked between our legs. That we are warriors. That we are _Huntsmen_!" I slammed one foot on the table and pointed at the silver-haired student before me. "What are you!?"

"I'm a huntsman!" he hissed.

"You!" I called, pointing to another. "What the hell are you!?"

"A huntsman!"

"And y-"

"Huntsman!" The last man roared his answer as he stood up, and others did the same, clamouring and baying angrily. The dark-skinned man thrust out his hand. "Free me! I'll fight!"

It set off an avalanche.

"Free me!"

"No, me!"

"Free us!"

"I'll follow you to the ends of Beacon!"

"He knows the way!"

"He will show us the way!"

"Commander!"

A loud slam cut off the chants. The door opened, and behind it stood Weiss Schnee, dusted, bruised, but no less furious than she had been a moment before. Her chest rose and fell and she clutched Myrtenaster in one hand. It swept up to point at me, at my heart.

"Enough," she hissed. "Enough shouting, enough fighting – and enough of you, Arc! Your little rebellion ends _now_."

"No!" someone yelled.

"Fight!"

"Silence!" Weiss shouted. "All of you sit down! You are beaten, you're defeated. Sit down or I promise you now I'll make you regret it."

"We're men!"

"You are prisoners," Weiss corrected. "And you'll soon have another one to talk to. And you, Jaune Arc, will be _mine_ to deal with as I please!" She took a step forward, confident in the knowledge that no one would dare challenge her.

It was for that reason that she was unprepared for the table that rushed straight for her.

"Free them!" Mercury Black yelled, having kicked the table he'd been sat at toward the door. Weiss was forced back outside and the desk slammed against the door frame. "I'll keep them busy. Go! One last fight – even if it's a hopeless one!"

"Free me!"

"Take me, I'll fight!"

My eyes widened, and against my will a watery smile slipped across my face. I nodded to the man who'd once been so defeated. As he rushed along to hold the door, I charged in the opposite direction, slapping my hand against the various ones held out between rows of tables.

"You're free. You're free. You're free!" I chanted it constantly, and chairs were knocked to the floor as students surged upwards and toward the door. "You're free. You're free. You're all free!" As the battle raged I hurried up the staircase to the second floor, and yet more men waited, leaning out from their desks with hands extended and eyes wild and full of light. "Free. Free. Free. Free!"

I reached the last and slapped my hand against his, the flesh of my palm bright red and my arm all but tingling from the pain. As the person nodded and vaulted the balcony, landing in a roll and picking up a chair to use as a weapon, I stepped up onto the balustrade of the balcony, looking down over the two hundred free men. They were all of them unarmed, though some had formed makeshift weapons from books, tables, and even one enterprising man using his shoes with the laces tied together as nunchucks.

"Arise, men. Arise, wolves!" I yelled. "The foe is before us, the foe that would enslave us, and the very foe that would rob us of our freedom! March; march for the cafeteria – for food and glory. March! March for victory!" I swept my sword down, pointing it toward the door. "For Jaunehalla!"

The horde roared. They surged forward, tearing the table from the door and pouring out into the corridor with fists flying. Weiss cried out, as did others and soon they were swept away by a tidal wave they could not hope to hold.

"To the cafeteria!" I roared. "Push through! Push!"

Weiss and her guards tried to hold the line. Coco appeared soon after, and tried to cow the horde into submission. She was tackled by Fox, a teammate who had been imprisoned since the start – and Weiss was borne down by the press of bodies, stripped of her weapon and sent spinning to the ground. It was all the girls could do to watch wide-eyed as the prisoners rampaged through them, ignorant of even the wounds they took in the process, screaming their pent-up fury at the top of their lungs.

We did not defeat them that day.

We swept them from the field of battle entirely.

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War**

 **Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _It was noon on the final day of the war when the female warriors returned victorious from conquest. Stomachs rumbled and limbs dragged heavily with fatigue, and yet their heads were held high, for even if the perfidious leader, the King of the North, had escaped, his forces had been shattered. Eighty or more were those who had been captured, their hands laced together by shoelaces as they were marched in the middle of the column, their heads bowed in defeat._

 _The women were raucous in their victory, laughing and shouting between one another. They had every right to be, for in just twenty-four hours victory would be achieved at last. The High Queen had promised a feast that would never be forgotten for our achievement, and many were the stomachs that rumbled in anticipation. The Queen herself was pensive, marching at the front. I personally knew she had expected the capture of the King, Jaune Arc, and the means for how he had escaped still remained a mystery._

 _But such mysteries had a tendency to reveal themselves. So, too, did this one as we rounded the corner to the cafeteria – and found ourselves faced with a wall. It was a wall of blue lockers, but also a wall of flesh and steel, all aimed towards us. Shock ran through the returning army and the column halted, the news being passed further down the line to those who had not yet seen the travesty ahead._

" _What… what the hell is this!?" Captain Yang Xiao-Long demanded._

 _A commotion began in the men's lines and a figure appeared from the front. I didn't recognise his face but others must have, for they gasped in shock. "Jaune…" the High Queen whispered, and again the news was whispered through our ranks._

 _Jaune Arc was not as many had imagined. He was tall but no giant, and while his eyes roved over them critically they did not burn with eldritch fire. He did command a certain presence, however. Even if that might have been accentuated by the rocket lockers he stood upon._

" _Welcome to the cafeteria, Pyr," he said. "I'd offer you a sandwich but I'd have to ask you to surrender first." He grinned as gasps flew through the female line. "Turnabout is fair play after all."_

 _Yang pushed past the Queen before she could reply. "Oi, vomit boy. Where's Weiss?"_

" _Weiss?" he asked. "Well, she's around here somewhere. Ah, there she is." He pulled someone up on stage beside him. She was held by Lie Ren and Yatsuhashi Daikon, and Weiss Schnee would surely have had colourful words for which to describe her situation._

 _Unfortunately, or fortunately, she couldn't speak past the strip of cloth stuck in her mouth._

 _Brigadier General Weiss Schnee – one of the leaders of our empire, an empire which had stood victorious until this time, had been captured. The shock of that revelation spread like wildfire and I was not alone in taking a nervous step back._

 _The High Queen, however, did not. "The cafeteria is ours, Jaune."_

" _And the auditorium was ours but it looks like you smashed the place up. Things change, and besides, you lot kept the cafeteria to yourself all this time. It could have been a neutral place where everyone could peacefully eat, but you turned it into a weapon. Or she did," he added, nodding to Weiss. It had to be a guess on his part but yes, it had been the Brigadier General's idea. "Now it's our turn, Pyrrha. Anyone who surrenders will be allowed food. Anyone who doesn't? Well, there's a perfectly good auditorium up north."_

 _He smiled at the last, and his words were echoed by the jeers of those who stood beside him – men who were, as far as we could tell, prisoners rescued from the library. But a day ago they had been cowed and defeated - quick to follow any instructions - but now they brayed for blood like wild animals. They had armed themselves too, and suddenly the rocket lockers which formed their hastily built wall made more sense._

 _The numbers were, for the first time, even. The High Queen had taken three hundred or so with her, and there could not have been much more than that which stood before us, perhaps even less. Despite that, the men held a defensible position and were well-rested, while the girls had just fought a gruelling campaign to fight their way past six rows of fortifications, each laden with traps and hidden tripwires that splashed flour and water in their faces. The women were exhausted, bruised, and also very, very, hungry._

 _They could not fight. The women knew it, the men knew it, but still they would not sally forth for even if they had been freshly freed, they too were not at full strength. It was, by all definition, the perfect stalemate._

" _We have your defenders prisoner," Pyrrha called. She gestured for the men to be brought forward and they were, such well-known commanders as Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. They were pushed to their knees._

 _King Jaune's eyes narrowed. "You do."_

" _We'll trade them for food, their weight in food for you to have them all back. It's the same deal we made for Ruby a few days ago."_

 _It was a good deal, a necessary deal. The food would give the women the strength to recover and plot their counter-attack, and then to seize the cafeteria on the final day, crushing the resistance once and for all. King Jaune would have no option but to accept as well, lest he face the wrath of his-_

" _No."_

 _The silence that ran through the two armies was indescribable. The single word, callously given, condemned the captured men to life as prisoners. Sun Wukong's head fell, while those behind the wall of lockers shifted and traded awkward glances. Even we were surprised, and those that seemed to know Jaune of Arc were the most so, gasping open-mouthed._

 _Ruby Rose stepped forward. "W-What? Are you saying you'll give us less?" she asked._

" _No. I'm saying I won't trade food for them at all."_

" _Prisoners, then? You'll give us Weiss?"_

" _No." His words were like the tolling of a distant bell. "I won't make a prisoner trade."_

 _Eighty men… that was how many the King of the North was willing to sacrifice. That he would sacrifice any at all cemented him as a monster, but the number alone was inconceivable. It would be a sizeable addition to his force and bought in something he had a limitless amount of, and yet for ultimate victory he would cast them away, starving us but also condemning his own to suffer._

 _The High Queen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Very well, Jaune. We'll return to the North Wing for now, but make no mistake – we shall return. The cafeteria is ours."_

" _It was yours," he said. "Things change."_

 _He stood there like an immovable statue as Pyrrha Nikos signalled for her forces to turn and march in the opposite direction. The prisoners were tugged along._

" _One moment," he called, stopping them._

" _Have you changed your mind, Jaune?"_

" _Not quite." The King checked something on his scroll and whispered some words to Lie Ren, who we knew to be his Spymaster and left hand. The Spymaster nodded back, pointed to something, and then melted back into the ranks of men. King Jaune Arc turned to his right hand, then, The Iron Beast, Cardin Winchester. The burly man nodded back, and the King of the North turned to us with one eyebrow raised. "I was just wondering how you intended to feed those prisoners." he said._

" _What do you mean?"_

" _Well, it's just that by the laws of the war you have to keep your prisoners fed. Correct me if I'm wrong but you don't have any food other than what you took with you, which wouldn't even be enough for yourself at this point." His smile grew. "So, how do you intend to feed those prisoners?"_

 _There was no answer. Pyrrha looked to Yang, and Yang looked to Blake, and Blake looked for Weiss except that she was trussed and gagged next to their enemy. Ruby and Nora shrugged, while many of the other girls whispered in confusion._

" _Maybe you never thought about it before since you had the cafeteria next door," he continued, "but the rules state that if you can't feed your prisoners three meals a day then you have to let them go. Since we're right next to the tower of Beacon I'm sure Miss Goodwitch is watching right now. So, how do you intend to feed those prisoners, Pyrrha?"_

 _The High Queen's hand clenched into a fist. She was trapped. They all were. With a pointed sigh Pyrrha turned to those around the prisoners and waved one hand. The message was clear even if no words were uttered. The men were released, their bindings undone._

 _Sun Wukong rubbed his wrists and looked around in awe, like a man who had been deprived of sunlight and whom had just seen it again once more. He stared at the King on the wall, and after a brief second he whooped and rushed forward. Their fellows followed, cackling wildly as they leapt up and were hoisted over the wall by their allies. Cheers were raised from the men, and the distant chanting reached them once more._

" _ **Jaune. Jaune. Jaune. Jaune."**_ _It repeated, over and over._

" _This won't make a difference, Jaune," Pyrrha Nikos called, raising her voice so that it could be heard over the din. "Even with those returned to you our numbers are even. Once we've had a chance to recover our energy we'll return, and you know full well we eclipse you in terms of quality." Pyrrha, the Invincible Girl, stood tall and proud. There were few who dared doubt her words, or her skill._

" _Maybe you're right," Jaune Arc said, "and maybe you're wrong. I guess we'll find out. Have fun in Jaunehalla, ladies. If you need us… we'll be having a little victory feast."_

 _The men roared and clashed their weapons together, while we were left to scuttle away to the North, our prides bruised and our egos shattered. The men's jeers and taunts followed us, and they seemed to haunt from every corridor and window. All too many of us had become complacent in victory, certain that nothing could stop us. For many it was a wakeup call. For some, it was a devastating blow. For Beacon, it marked the final stages of the Civil War._

 _The war had at last truly begun._

* * *

 **My, that was a very long excerpt at the end. I originally wrote it as Jaune's POV and part of the chapter but it didn't quite capture the essence of the scene and I re-wrote it as an excerpt. I really wanted it from the women's point of view, and specifically to show how Jaune's actions are `perceived` by their side. You can rest assured he was bricking it up there and desperately praying Pyrrha wouldn't just call an attack.**

 **Well, Jaune knows `the way` and now the men are prepared for the final battles. Will it be Magnis from OGT all over again? How many will fall? Has Jaune finally lost it and given in to the madness?**

 **Find out next time.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 10** **th** **February**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	12. Chapter 12

**My business event is over, thank the heavens. Over 200 guests and my speech was utterly winged, all my time for planning and practicing lost when the TV's and Laptops didn't synch, and then I had to spend all day fixing that – and fixing the issues with the power-point presentation and video itself (which was poorly written, despite my team saying they'd checked it), and then basically walked onto the stage with nothing and winged it. Still, got ovations, was told I was inspiring, and otherwise had a lot of compliments after – as well as some people leaving comments on our "how can we improve" forms saying the speaker (me) was dry, witty, and commanded the room.**

 **Thank god for making shit up on the spot. The best part is that I was talking to construction and property professionals about stuff I didn't know, but what** _ **they**_ **did. I'm just a journalist and Editor, after all. They're the ones actually IN the industry I'm hosting an event for.**

 **On the chapter, some reviewers noticed a small error in this story in which I have before said "seven" capture points and then "nine." It was just a typo and doesn't really matter in the long run, but I've gone back and changed them all to say nine now, which will hopefully fix the issue.**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

" _And so it was that He sat with his Lords on the last day and sup with them. And in that moment did He reveal unto them the truth of all, that they might weep. Yet all knew His will must be done."_

The Book of Jaune, Chapter 8, Verse XI

* * *

The cafeteria was a hub of wild activity and I sat at the centre of it all, atop a chair that was perched precariously on two dining tables that had been dragged together. It gave me a commanding view over the entire hall, though that worked both ways and everyone could see me as well. Some would occasionally stop to stare, and then nod – as if the mere sight of me had instilled some unknown confidence in them. They'd then rush back to the main lines, which had been tested for the last four hours – even as evening pulled in. The girls weren't giving up the cafeteria lightly.

"Another attack has been repelled, my lord," Cardin panted, one hand on his knee as he leaned his mace against the table. His armour was pitted and marked, not to mention covered in flour and soot. "They keep coming. They're relentless."

"They're hungry," Ren said, looking down at his scroll. "I've sent another reminder out that we have food and demand their surrender. I included an image of a bacon sandwich."

"You fiend," Cardin gasped. "I like it!"

Ren nodded. "I aim to please."

 _(I had also posted a picture of a stack of homemade pancakes to one individual, who shall go unnamed.)_

"What about the defences?" I asked.

"Sun was eager to get back into action after he was freed and has put his own personal touch onto them," Ren said. "Needless to say, the girls don't appreciate it."

"The man is a genius," Cardin agreed. "I wasn't sure before, because he was a faunus and all, but now I can see how wrong I was. He came up with this idea called a rebellion bomb, which is basically some food strapped around a weight to help it fly. We throw it into the attacking forces and the girls are so hungry that they fall on it like Beowolves, fighting among one another for the food." Cardin laughed at the image, even if I winced, recalling all too well those hungry days. "Frankly, the man is a tactical mastermind, at least when it comes to defence, traps, and distractions. I never thought I'd say it but I'm glad to fight alongside a faunus such as he."

"How are the men themselves holding up, though? Most of them weren't eager to get involved in the war when I freed them from the library." My speech had worked well in that regard but there was no telling how long the excitement would last, especially when they were faced with combat against the girls.

"Take a look," Cardin said, turning towards the cafeteria's entrance. The double doors themselves consisted of one barricade but there was also several outside and combat sounded from it. Reaching over that, however, a voice could be heard.

"And so did He take up the sword, casting off the shackles of servitude and say `follow me, brothers, for I shall lead you to a world where you may stand as men`." Russel's sonorous chanting paused, but only for a second. "In His light do we serve, in His name do we stand, remember this and fight in His glory and His image. For He is the ruler of all mankind!"

There was a mighty roar from outside as a hundred or more voices rose in victorious anger – and soon after any such chants were drowned as our men redoubled their efforts.

Ruler of all mankind? I really needed to have a word with Russel at some point. I hardly felt like the ruler of my own destiny. I felt silly in my chair – sorry, my throne – and that wasn't just because I didn't deserve it but also because the legs teetered whenever I leaned back, and I was fairly sure my toppling off the table to break my neck wouldn't exactly be great for morale. I wasn't sure how my being sat here was _good_ for morale, but what did I know? Apparently, the guys loved it.

"Is there any chance of the girls coming from another angle?"

"The chances are slim," Cardin reported. "The kitchens are off-limits and locked, and the girls barricaded the windows themselves, setting up benches and tables on our side so that snipers can watch out. Since the cafeteria building has open terrain on its sides, it would be suicide for anyone to try charge from that angle. I have men guarding them anyway, but I doubt the girls will be that foolish. As long as we guard the main entrance we'll be able to keep them out."

"And they'll be able to keep _us_ trapped inside," Ren said. He drew out his scroll and sighed. "We've lost all the objective points outside the cafeteria. The girls struck our forces hard, probably more to catch them and take whatever food they had before they could meet us here."

"Were any of ours taken prisoner?"

"No. The girls don't have the food to feed them, so they were allowed to return to us. But even so we're far behind on objectives now."

That was a problem. I leaned one elbow on my knee, chin on one hand, and hummed. The girls had about the same numbers as we did now, but in terms of quality they had some stand-out combatants, and that made defending against them difficult. The girls couldn't actually mount an all-out attack because that would be all or nothing, and if it failed we could capture them all and win instantly. On the other hand, even if they sent half of their forces on an attack, it was enough to press us. Half wasn't enough to beat us, but it kept the men busy and prevented us escaping.

That left the other half, hungry as they were, to mill out and capture the objectives, and also to scour the school for supplies and food. It also gave them free reign over any air drops provided by Port, since they didn't need to defend any one location and could practically send an army to collect one.

In a very real way we really had switched our positions with the female forces. Our biggest strength, and the one thing that kept me free before, was that we'd been unpredictable; able to attack from any angle, relocate at a moment's notice, and otherwise stay mobile across Beacon. We couldn't do that now, and I could finally understand why it had been so hard for Weiss and Pyrrha to capture us.

"It looks like they're trying to last the war out," Cardin said. "There's only the rest of tonight and up until twelve noon tomorrow. That's just sixteen hours or so, and at least six of that'll be sleeping."

"The human body can go a long time without food," Ren added. "Water not so much, but any bathroom has drinking water from the taps. I'm fairly sure Miss Goodwitch would have something to say if we damaged the water systems in the school." The three of us each winced at that, all deciding it wasn't worth the risk – even if it was a callously brilliant plan.

"We've struck a big victory but if things continue like this we're going to lose the war," Cardin said. He looked to me, and it was obvious what he wanted.

"I'll see if I can think up a plan," I said. "Leave it with me."

"I knew I could count on you. With your permission I'll return to the defences, sir." He slammed a fist to his chest in salute and waited for me to nod before he strode away. Men were buoyed when he re-joined the lines, and his reinforcements – along with some more that stood from tables and joined in, allowed some tired fighters to break off and collect meals of their own. It was a rota system Yatsuhashi had devised, which allowed the fighters to get rest wherever they could, defending for two hours, then breaking off for one of rest – and then one of guarding the barricaded windows, which was essentially more rest but just with a little alertness required. Then it was back to the gates and repeated over and over until it was time for sleep.

We couldn't rest through the night, however. There was a chance the women would band together and plan a night raid, and some might have already been asleep now in preparation for it. We'd need to have people awake through the night. Ren had already made plans for that and fifty or so people were asleep in one corner of the cafeteria, catching what rest they could so we could rely on them later. Most were faunus, since it made sense to give them the night watch.

"You look stressed, Jaune."

"I _feel_ stressed. I used to think I knew what that was whenever one of Oobleck's assignments came around, but this really puts it in perspective." Homework was easy, as was dealing with Weiss' rejections. Leading a force against a far superior one while you were trapped in a cafeteria and didn't know anything about strategy or leadership?

Not easy, it turned out.

"You're doing a good job, Jaune. Don't doubt that. You were made the leader of our team for a reason. I'm sure Ozpin saw what potential you held."

"Do you think so?"

"Why else would he have put you in command all the way back in initiation?"

Honestly, I didn't know. I'd always assumed it was something to do with the teachers having to make a team name out of a limited number of letters and just throwing me in charge because someone came up with the team name `Juniper`. Maybe that wasn't the case, though. Maybe Ozpin _had_ seen something more in me.

 _(Sadly, I can confirm he did not, after asking the man himself. The headmaster assured me some traditions are set in stone, and the naming of teams is one such. The headmaster then informed me we had stupid names and should feel ashamed about ourselves.)_

The others had certainly seen something – and now were waiting on me to make the next step in the grand plan we were already enacting. It was probably time to think up a grand plan, then. "Have we received any more prisoners lately?"

Ren looked up from his scroll, surprised. "None, I'm afraid. We have the ones we took initially, Weiss, Coco, and Velvet included, but none have actually taken the offer of surrender for food yet."

"Haven't we been able to capture any after an attack?"

"No. They always have a small reserve force that doesn't attack, preventing us from sallying out when they retreat lest we run into a trap."

"Hm. They're putting a lot of thought into this." I'd hoped the capture of Weiss would put an end to that, but it looked like she wasn't the only tactical one on their side. This might have been Pyrrha, but it could just as easily have been someone from the upper years.

"I think Cardin is right," Ren said. "They're trying to keep us pinned down in here."

"What's the situation on the objective points?"

"We hold one and the girls hold six. The West, North, and East Wings."

"We have the cafeteria, but that only makes seven. Doesn't that leave two unclaimed?" I asked.

"Yes. There are three points in the central sector of Beacon; the cafeteria, library, and the training rooms. It seems those are too close to our territory, however. Pyrrha has decided to leave them absent for now." Ren put his scroll away. "I suppose they feel the spots don't matter in the long run. Six will still beat three and we can't even get out of here."

And if we sent forces to capture those two spots, they'd light up blue on everyone's scrolls – and the poor guys I sent there would be slaughtered faster than they could blink. They'd be freed since the girls couldn't afford to capture them, but they'd probably be stripped of weapons, dust, and food. The fact they were unclaimed might well be the bait for a trap.

"We can't beat them in an even fight," I whispered, afraid someone else might overhear. "I don't know what Cardin expects me to do. I can't create a miracle."

Ren looked at me like he wasn't sure if that were the case. I was grateful that he didn't say it. He looked away instead. "I don't think we've ever been able to face them in a fair fight, Jaune. If that were the case, then we wouldn't need you."

"Because I even up the odds?" I asked, with perhaps a hint of sarcasm.

"No. Because you don't let it become an even fight. I'll leave you to your thoughts. I'd best get back to the gates and help the others."

His parting words remained lodged in my mind.

/-/

We didn't have a dedicated section for our prisoners since we didn't have any rooms other than the cafeteria. That worked to our advantage in a way since it meant we didn't need dedicated guards, someone always being within range of them to prevent any chance of their being rescued. On the downside it meant I had to put up with a pair of icy blue eyes staring directly into mine. Even in defeat Weiss wasn't one to bow down, and she made that clear from the moment I approached.

"What do you want, _Arc_? Come to gloat over your moment of triumph?"

"I-"

"Or maybe you've come to interrogate me for information. You'll find I'm not as easy to crack as Ruby. Do your worst." She stuck out her jaw stubbornly, though I noticed a few of the other girls weren't nearly so confident, and Velvet hid behind Coco.

Had I wanted to interrogate them I probably could have, but Weiss would never have been the first pick. Luckily for them – and probably for me considering in a day or so I wouldn't have the defence of an army to watch my back – I wasn't here to extract answers from any of them.

I was honestly trying to think up a plan to get us out of this mess. For the first time since the war began, I was actively trying to think of a _proactive_ solution, as opposed to doing what I normally did – reacted whenever something went wrong. It was a new experience, if not an exciting one. My mind was blank, my inspiration as dead as an Ursa in a huntress convention.

"I don't need to know anything from you," I said. "We already know everything we need to."

"If that's the case then you must know this is hopeless."

"Fighting?"

"Resisting. The war is nearly over, and _you've_ lost. I'd like to see you luck your way out of this one."

"Luck?" I laughed. "Snow Angel, I _really_ don't think I've been very lucky these last few days. Not unless you mean bad luck."

"You captured us, and only because you lucked out and happened to be in the area while the main force went off to crush your silly camp in the North Wing. Don't tell me you think you managed to capture us through skill."

"Well, I captured Blake," I pointed out. "And Ruby before her. Now I just need Yang to complete the whole set." There were a few muffled sniggers from the other prisoners and Weiss' face burned. "You also never managed to catch me while this was all going on."

"T-That's luck," she insisted. "Now that you're all in one spot it's just a matter of time until you're defeated, either by Pyrrha or by the time limit. You're out of time. I know it, you know, it and so does every woman out there. It's only your _fanatics_ who don't seem to realise it."

"Hey," I cautioned, feeling a little offended for my allies. "Not everyone follows Russel's teachings."

 _(Actually, it had by this point become something of a state religion…)_

"You should just surrender. The sooner you do, the sooner this war can come to an end; with you bending knee to Pyrrha and accepting defeat. It's the only thing you can do!"

"I'll think about it," I said, leaving them alone. Weiss' voice echoed behind me but for once I ignored her attention. As much as I hated to admit it she was probably right. We were stuck in here and unable to strike out. Taking the cafeteria had been the right call – the only call – but it had been an impulsive one. Before, we'd relied on hit and run attacks and the defences of Jaunehalla, but even those had fallen to a full-scale attack.

If Pyrrha wanted to, she could mount another here, and probably crush us. The only reason she wasn't was because she didn't need to, because it would be a silly risk that would give us a chance, no matter how small, of eking out a victory. Pyrrha might not have been Team JNPR's team leader, but I often felt she should have been. She deserved it more than I did.

But surrendering to the girls? The only thing we could do, huh?

I took one more look around the cafeteria, not only to those sleeping or fighting but those sat at tables, talking excitedly between themselves, full of life in a way I hadn't seen for days. There were even some busy working on some kind of hobby, chipping away at a block of ice with knives for whatever reason. Maybe material for a trap Sun had in mind.

 _(A fifteen-foot tall ice statue of Jaune. Perhaps it was best for my friend's sanity that he not realise it.)_

Either way, there was life among our ranks now – that same life which had been shown when we claimed Jaunehalla as our own. Before that the people who'd followed me had been desperate for hope and clinging to whatever was available. Now they had their respect back and looked determined to defend it to the last man.

But it _would_ be to the last man. Weiss was right. We couldn't hope to hold the cafeteria. And those self-same people were relying on me to come up with a solution.

"Summon the Generals," I said to a student sat nearby. "Call Yatsuhashi, Ren, Cardin and Sun. Tell them it's time for a War Council."

Lacking a room of our own for such a momentous event, the five of us sat down around a smaller table in one corner of the cafeteria, and plates of food were brought from the kitchens by Russel, Sky, and Dove, who excused themselves for a well-earned rest once we'd been served. The Generals had been fighting and were slick with sweat, so I let them tuck in. I hoped it would make them more amicable to my plan. I knew some would disagree on principle alone.

"Ah, that hit the spot," Sun said, leaning back to rub his bare stomach. "Nothing like a good meal after a hard fight."

"I respectfully agree," Yatsuhashi said. "All those days without food have only allowed me to cherish it more now."

"Couldn't agree more, big man. So, boss, you said you wanted to talk to us all?"

"I did." I watched their faces, wincing a little at how happy they all were. I knew I was about to ruin it. "We've been under constant attack since we took the cafeteria. The food is good, but we're stuck here, and the girls know it. It wouldn't surprise me if they've got the whole place under siege. Even if we go out the windows, they'll see us on the open ground."

"We can break through their forces," Cardin boasted.

"Can we? Cardin, you know as well as I how strong Pyrrha is. She's beat your whole team – and yes, before you ask, she can beat me." With pitiful ease, in fact. The only times I could hold my own was when she felt sorry for me – which happened more often than it should but wasn't likely to here. "We've got the food and the central position, but they've got us surrounded, and the cafeteria is only _one_ objective. It's not enough to win the war."

"But we can starve them out," Sun said. "We've got access to all the food. It worked for them."

"At the start of the war," I countered. "It worked because people had the prospect of going _days_ without food. They just need to hold out until lunch-time tomorrow. That's not exactly a hassle for them. The cafeteria was only a bonus for them because they got it early and had it for the long term."

"So, you're suggesting we give up the cafeteria?"

"No." I held my breath as their faces darkened. I knew they wouldn't like it, and they were about to like my next suggestion even less. "I'm suggesting we give up a whole lot more…"

/-/

"This is a mistake!" Cardin hissed loudly. Several people looked his way, so he lowered his voice, even if his temper didn't follow. "You can't do this! Not after everything we've fought for."

"It's the only option, Cardin."

"It's not! We can fight!"

"We can't!" I hissed, and rounded on him for once, truly angry. "You might refuse to accept the truth, but I won't! We don't have the fighters and those we do have aren't strong enough. The girls will crush us the moment they launch an all-out attack and the only thing stopping them is the fact they don't need to!"

Sun and Yatsuhashi looked away. They knew the truth and didn't refute it, but the knowledge still stung. Cardin met my gaze for a long moment before he turned and stormed away, unwilling to speak any further. I sighed and let him go.

"Trouble?" Weiss asked, sat nearby with a smug grin on her face.

"None at all," I returned. She didn't believe me.

"It looks like your lapdog doesn't agree with you, and you're all looking a little worse for wear. Have you finally come to the conclusion that surrender is your only option?"

"We haven't," I said. "But we _have_ decided to let you go free."

Weiss appeared startled. "What?"

"You're free to go," I repeated.

"Hoping to add more hungry mouths to the female army?"

"Not at all. You've already been fed as per the rules so all of you are at peak performance." I sighed and gestured behind me, and Weiss' eyes widened as several trolleys were brought forward, each laden with trays. "And I'd like you to deliver this to your side. There should be enough there to feed everyone for tonight."

"What? I don't… but…" Weiss struggled to find the right words before she settled on suspicion. "They're poisoned, aren't they? You've put something into them."

"Miss Goodwitch would expel me if I did that. Not to mention I'd never take the risk of trying it, even with something innocent. One bad reaction and I could actually kill someone." Whatever Weiss thought of me, and however bad her impression, she knew I wouldn't go that far and grudgingly nodded.

"Alright, Arc. I'll believe you on that one. Still, why? Why set us free and why give us all this food? What's in it for you?"

"It's a gift... and I want you to take Pyrrha a message for me."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just call her?"

"I can, but I can't take the food to her, and that's kind of the proof that we're being genuine here. I want to propose that we have a ceasefire for tonight, at least until eight tomorrow morning. Everyone's exhausted and the women have been fighting for ages now. We'll release all our prisoners and give you enough food for the whole night. In return, you don't attack us while we rest."

"Why would we agree to that?"

"Because it's win-win for you. We're trapped in here with no way out and we only have the one objective point." I showed her my scroll for truth. Her face lit up in a wide grin, as though she'd just realised something that amused her greatly.

"You're giving up!"

"I'm aiming for a peaceful resolution," I countered.

"One where _we_ win the war?" Weiss asked.

"One where no one loses. We don't want to end this war as prisoners, Weiss. I'm sure Pyrrha and you don't want to throw bodies at our defences either, since those aren't going to fall anytime soon. We can't get out, but you can't get in. You don't have the numbers for it."

Weiss scowled. "Admittedly, that is true… three-to-one odds are normally advised to take any fortified position, and when it only has one entrance the issue becomes more complicated."

 _(And I imagine those issues she spoke of involved a certain faunus, not to mention the religious fervour Russel was able to whip the men into.)_

"And it works both ways. You can't get in and we can't get out. Your people are starving, and we have food. What we don't have is rest and the assurance you won't attack us." I held out a hand. "Let's make a trade."

Weiss eyed my hand cautiously. "You realise I can't make that decision for everyone, right?"

"I know. That's why I want you to take the food to them as a gift – to show how serious we are. Yes, you could just eat it all and attack us – but even well-fed it would be the same meat-grinder battle. Everyone would come out sore and exhausted. Nothing would change."

"Say that we agree, or that Pyrrha does… what next? I'll admit it's not a bad deal, Arc. I would accept it, if only because you've as good as lost as it is. But what comes after? Are you suggesting we sit back and do nothing for the remainder of the war? Are you saying your forces will accept a female victory so long as you can be free when it happens?"

"I'd accept that. It's not like we can win anyway."

"Do you really have no shame?"

"I signed up to fight Grimm, Weiss. Not people."

That cut the wind out from her sails and the heiress sighed. More than that, she shot me a look which contained something _other_ than disdain. "It isn't a bad proposal," she said. "I'm also impressed you're able to look beyond your testosterone and realise how hopeless your situation is. Fine, I'll agree to pass the message on. Do you have it in writing, or am I to recount this?"

"It's in writing," I said, holding out a letter to her. It was open, and when she held a hand over the flap inquisitively I nodded to say it was okay for her to look. A few other girls – no longer prisoners – looked over her shoulder.

"Everything reads okay, but it says the ceasefire only lasts until eight. That leaves four hours until the end of the war." Weiss' eyes met mine. "What happens then?"

I took a deep breath. This was my moment, my play, and the only way out of the war I could see – or the only way out that didn't end with us clapped in invisible chains and marched away as prisoners. It was the best I could do.

The only thing I could do.

"Then, I was hoping the two sides could meet."

"For what, a final battle?"

"No. For peace."

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War**

 **Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _News of the ceasefire spread like wildfire among the camp, and more so the smell of freshly cooked food. The sentries were alerted long before Weiss Schnee appeared, and at first none could understand how the captured prisoners might have returned laden with fresh food. Had they escaped? Had Brigadier-General Weiss Schnee somehow defeated the King of Men on her own?_

 _No, she had been set free – and with a message._

 _HRH Pyrrha Nikos was quick to accept the ceasefire, and to call a temporary peace that led many to celebrate, for food had been scarce and what had been gifted to us was rich indeed. We feasted, but even then, our guards were not dropped, and sentries were placed to watch the cafeteria and alert us should any attack be mounted. None was, however. It seemed the men were serious, and rightly so._

" _Is this for real?" Captain Yang asked, one elbow leaning on the table. She was half-eating a meal, and no one cautioned her for it. They were all hungry. "I mean – um – you don't think it's another trap or anything?"_

" _The ceasefire seems genuine," Pyrrha said, "and I don't think Jaune would lie about it."_

" _Our fearless leader is too honest for that," Nora agreed._

" _Not entirely fearless," Weiss said. "After all, he clearly is afraid of what will happen if we attacked him full-force. Why else would he try something like this?"_

" _Do you believe it's legitimate, then?" Blake asked._

" _I personally saw Winchester's reaction. He was practically frothing at the mouth. The others didn't look pleased, either. Trust me; they know their days are numbered. It was obvious from the start and it's obvious now."_

" _Jaune did take the cafeteria," Ruby warned. Zwei yipped from her arms, reacting to the name and wagging his stubby tail. Ruby hugged him close when everyone stared at the treacherous hound. "Stop glaring at Zwei. And we shouldn't underestimate Jaune. He's clever."_

" _He's lucky," Weiss growled._

" _No, he is intelligent when he wants to be, or needs to be," Pyrrha said. "We've underestimated him from the start and we won't do so now. We'll honour this ceasefire as long as he does. Everyone could use a break anyway."_

" _And the other offer?" Yang asked. "The peace deal? We going to accept that?"_

" _We don't have to," Blake said. "We can defeat them."_

" _But what if both sides could win?" Ruby asked. "Wouldn't that be a cool way to end the war?"_

" _It would be a grand way to end this," Pyrrha agreed. "I'd personally prefer it if we could all win and not just one half of the population. I'd like to attend this meeting and see if we can't make a deal. Where is it to be held, Weiss?"_

" _Jaune suggested the cafeteria but I felt that would be uneven and potentially a trap. I said we should hold it on neutral ground, the library to be specific. I arranged it for ten," she added. "That will let us stall for longer. If we can keep the meeting going we'll win by default, even if a peace deal isn't struck."_

" _The library is far enough away from the cafeteria to be safe," Blake said, nodding to Weiss. "We could react immediately if the men tried to mount an attack. It's a good location. I can have my Ninjas watch it tonight to make sure they don't try to lay a trap." Pyrrha nodded, and the faunus strode out of the room, disappearing soon after with her small group._

 _Pyrrha Nikos rose. "We shall meet for peace," she said. "Ruby, can you send Jaune a message? Tell him I accept his offer, and that if Ozpin allows it, we'll end this war as allies in a joint victory."_

 _Ruby nodded happily and rushed out of the room. Those that remained were less thrilled, though not entirely against the idea. Yang sighed and tapped her fingers on the table. "What happens if the headmaster doesn't give it the okay, Pyrrha? What do we do, then?"_

" _We apologise profusely," the Queen said. "And then we do what we must. Weiss, pass a message along to the troops. If the peace deal is successful we stand down."_

" _And if it's not?"_

" _Storm the cafeteria. Yang, Nora, and I will keep Jaune from interfering."_

 _That night, the women feasted – and those prisoners released from the cafeteria were welcomed with open arms, for they bore food and came well-fed of their own, eager to get back to work and watch the cafeteria for any sign of attack. Such was the cheer that few thought to count or monitor those who returned, and if more were freed than we had been aware were captured, then that was surely a good thing._

 _Even if a few of them were a little broad in the shoulder and deep in voice._

* * *

 **Will there be peace at last? A final deal for peace and co-operation, with the potential for a double victory should it be accepted. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but perhaps it depends on who is wielding it.**

 **We're actually quite close to the end of this fic – though I already have my next one planned. Since many have asked I will say that it isn't Professor Arc: Season 2, but that I** _ **am**_ **looking at that and making plans. Season 5 didn't give me as much in the way of… plot… as I'd hoped, but I might be able to just make stuff up based on the rather slow progression of Seasons four and five. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, just letting you know re the next fic. I'll also say it's** _ **not**_ **one of the ones off my author's page. Sorry to those looking for one of those in particular but I felt my next idea was stronger.**

 **I'll mention it more another time.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: 24th February**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


	13. Chapter 13

**This damn website! Work, damn it. Stop giving me errors and refusing to let me update stuff!**

 **Well, here we go. I didn't expect to be at this stage this week, but sometimes that is how the cookie crumbles. As some may have noticed from the summary above - if the site isn't as borked as it has been for last week or so and doesn't upload it - then the story is set to complete. It is finished. As such, this is the final chapter of the Beacon Civil War. I hope you enjoy. But realistically speaking, we all know most of you won't receive alerts, and that those who do won't be able to view it because the site will have the usual gamut of server errors. Yay!**

* * *

 **Beta:** College Fool

 **Cover Art:** Jack Wayne

* * *

 **Excerpt:**

 **On Days of War;** **Final Chapter**

 **Octavia Ember**

* * *

 _The final day of the war dawned with an incredible sense of anticipation. The scrolls showed that we stood victorious at six objective points to one, with two remaining neutral and one being the location of the proposed peace treaty. As the hours ticked by, the lack of movement on either side drove the girls into a fever pitch. Men could be seen through the barricaded windows of the cafeteria, staring out as though they expected an attack at any moments. Dark shadows manned the over-turned lockers and benches that made the walls separating the cafeteria from our own camp._

 _Neither side dared move._

 _Blake, Commander of the Ninjas of Love, had returned with the first light, bringing news that the library had remained secure, with not a single man attempting to infiltrate or lay a trap. Her own forces had remained the full night to ensure it. For all intents and purposes it looked as though the men were content to work towards peace._

 _But few were those who let their guards down entirely._

 _This was Jaune Arc, King of the North, they dealt with. Time and time again he had shown what befell those who underestimated him. None were prepared to do the same again._

 _When the scroll flickered at ten minutes to ten, her Highness rose._

" _It's time."_

 _I, her most faithful scribe, arose with her. I knew that history would be made this day, and that I would be most fortunate to witness it. It was to be the conclusion of the Beacon Civil War, and the victory of the female forces, one way or another._

 _By peace…_

 _Or by conquest._

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

" _We do what we must, not what we want. That is the duty ascribed to us, and I, for one, intend to fulfil it. Who stands with me?"_

Cardin Winchester

* * *

"We're not alone."

Of all the words I'd wanted Ren to say while we were stuck along in the middle of enemy territory those three hadn't been at the top of the list. In fact I'd say they ranked somewhere down at the bottom alongside `Miss Goodwitch is behind you` and `Look out, Nora has a megaphone`. That wasn't to say I didn't expect those eventualities to happen, because frankly what Nora wanted she got, but I still didn't like Ren making statements straight out of a horror film when we were in a situation like this.

The two of us stood in the middle of the library, or rather we were on the second-floor balcony, which overhung the main study area and contained some of the driest and least-read reference material there was, like Doctor Oobleck's thesis of Grimm evolution and Professor Port's bedtime stories for children, rated M for mature and containing copies bloodshed and gore.

Simply put, it was an oft missed area and the only place I felt safe – relatively safe, anyway – in the contested and neutral zone. The control panel in the centre was what dictated which team earned it, and that was a simple set-up of a box with two flags attached to it via rope. One was pink, the other blue, and whichever flag flew determined who controlled the point.

Currently neither was up, and I wasn't about to risk setting things off by fixing it in our favour. Bad enough that it was just the two of us doing this meeting, but there was no one else I could trust with it. They were all too aggressive and, well, confident in me. I needed someone who didn't see me as a divine figure or some incredible commander. I needed someone I could trust to watch my back, but not put me on a pedestal.

Ren was ever that figure thankfully. He was far too chill to get worked up and much too smart to fall for the same nonsense the others had. He was calm too, and I took some relief in that, idly wishing it could pass over to me. My hand strayed to Crocea Mors, but the gesture didn't comfort me. She wouldn't be much use against who I was about to face.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Ten minutes to ten," Ren reported. "Knowing Pyrrha she'll be here soon. She doesn't like to be late, even to sparring. You look tense. I brought some soda if you'd like some."

"Thank you." Yet again I whispered a silent prayer as thanks for Ren's constant companionship, accepting the drink and cracking it open. The sound helped to distract me, as did the sharp and fruity taste. I finished it in less than a minute and slammed it down on a nearby table. "I just wish they'd hurry the hell up," I growled. "It's all the waiting that's killing me."

I wished I could take those words back a second later, for the mighty doors of the library groaned open. Shapes appeared in the gloom from outside, at least six, maybe even more beyond. _She_ took the lead, as I'd known she would, resplendent in her bronze armour and we her crimson hair flying behind her. Pyrrha looked every inch the leader I knew she could be, the leader I knew she _should_ be, specifically of Team JNPR.

There was a curious moment where my first instinct was to duck and hide, before I reminded myself that not only had they seen me already, but I'd invited them to meet here. It was just that when I'd said it I imagined it would be Pyrrha, Ren and I – or maybe Pyrrha bringing one other. I hadn't specified any such number to Weiss however, and it looked like Pyrrha had brought an entire entourage. I felt rather naked with just Ren at my back.

 _(Though realistically speaking, even had Pyrrha come alone, our fate if a fight occurred would be the same.)_

"Welcome," I called, taking long and slow steps across the balcony toward the main staircase. The girls paused to watch me, one hand on the banister, my gait slow and steady – born more from reluctance and fear than pomp.

If there was any sense of me being superior because I was higher up and had to come down to meet them, it was without substance. I held onto the banister because they'd have seen my hand shaking if I didn't. I was upstairs because I'd wanted more room to flee like a coward if things turned ugly.

"Jaune," Pyrrha greeted, and there was warmth in her voice that somehow did and didn't surprise me. She'd always been like that, kind and humble, even to her enemies. "It's good to see you again. It feels like the team has been apart too long."

"I have it on faith that will end soon, Pyrrha." I checked my scroll. "Two hours, in fact."

She smiled curiously. "I'll look forward to it. I see you brought Ren with you."

Ren nodded a greeting to her. "Pyrrha."

"And I see you've brought a lot of people with you," I said, looking over the assembly. I wasn't sure how my knees weren't knocking together, but I wrote it off as fear. Too much fear. Chances were my body had frightened itself into total paralysis.

"You didn't specify a number," she said. "I thought you would have Cardin, Sun, and the others here."

"They were needed to defend the cafeteria."

If my admitting that I didn't trust them not to attack while I was distracted upset her, she hid it well. Pyrrha turned to the woman beside her, a girl with hair a slightly darker shade of red than her own. She wore a blue waistcoat over a tan skirt, with a steel pauldron on each shoulder. In her hands she carried a book with a tan cover, and she was writing into it.

"This is Octavia Ember," Pyrrha introduced. "She's a member of Team NDGO, a team from Vacuo here for the tournament."

 _(Delightful girl and font of much information. We compared notes often.)_

"A pleasure," the girl said, barely taking her eyes off the book but to nod at me. She then went back to scribbling.

"The others you know," Pyrrha continued, waving her hand toward Yang, Weiss and Blake.

"No Nora?" I had to ask, even if her absence did relieve me a little.

"I thought it would be best if she didn't come. She might have made things… complicated."

There was no disagreeing with that, even if I didn't feel all that much safer with three quarters of Team RWBY stacked against us. Of those, only Yang looked pleased to see me, winking in my direction while the other two glared. It seemed Blake hadn't forgiven me for capturing her and I knew full well Weiss could hold a grudge until the end of days.

Could Pyrrha have possibly chosen a worse set of people to bring with her? Literally _any_ other women in Beacon would have been kinder. Hell, bring Ruby at least. I'd have appreciated one friendly face in the crowd.

"How are we going to do this?" Pyrrha asked. "You're the one who proposed this, so I assume you have a plan."

"Of course," I lied. The plan was peace. That was it. If it were a three step plan then step one was arrange peace treaty, step three was profit and step two was this wonderfully vague and mysterious concept called `make peace`. Naturally, admitting all of that would make me look like a buffoon and I'd learned to avoid that. I gestured to the long table before us instead. "Why don't we all take a seat? There's no telling how long this might take."

"Less than two hours, I hope," Yang drawled.

"If it does, they'll lose," Weiss said, none-too-quietly. "We currently have the majority in capture points."

Pyrrha continued to smile at me and ignored them. She drew out a seat and sat down on it, leaving me to do the same across the table. Ren came to stand behind and a little to the left of me, and Blake did the same with Pyrrha. Only Octavia sat, and even then it was so that she could rest her book down and continue writing in it.

Everyone else took up stations nearby, with Weiss and Yang guarding the entrance. This was starting to feel less and less like the friendly meeting I'd hoped for and more and more like something straight out of a bad war film. Pyrrha's smile didn't fade but my confidence did. She seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

"So, you're the leader of the girls, huh? Can't say I'm all that surprised."

It wasn't the best conversation opener, I'll admit. On a scale of one to bloody obvious I'd probably ranked a nine point five, but it was the only thing my brain came up with.

Luckily for me, Pyrrha laughed. "I am," she said, brushing some red hair back from before her face. "It wasn't so much by choice as my being elected to the position though. No one else wanted to lead, and while I'm not overly experienced, I do know the theory. I imagine my fame helped a little," she added with a shrug. "It was weird at first but I got used to it. You, though," she said, suddenly all smiles again. "You've really grown into yourself, Jaune!"

She had no idea how insulting that was – mostly because all I'd `grown into` was a fraud and a liar. Still, it wasn't like Pyrrha meant it that way and I couldn't hold a grudge. She meant it as a compliment, as she always did whenever I sucked at training. She was great like that.

"Yeah, you could say that," I demurred. "Don't believe all the hype though. It's exaggerated."

"I'm not so sure it is. You evaded us for days, not to mention you struck the first victory, captured the cafeteria – and even fought off Blake in hand-to-hand combat."

I'd done what now? I looked over Pyrrha's head to the faunus in question, who fixed me with the fiercest glare I'd ever seen. The message was simple; _mention the dog and die_. Of course, that left only the marginally more humiliating idea of actually being overpowered by me, but it looked like she was willing to put up with that.

"Yeah… sure. Why not?"

"And you brought the men of Beacon into a single force," Pyrrha continued, missing my and Blake's little interplay. "I suppose that's the kind of leadership Ozpin saw in you when he made you team leader. I always knew you could do it, Jaune. I'm proud of you."

"Aw, thanks Pyrrha."

"That's why I know I have to go all out," she said. "That's why I'm not going to underestimate you. I'll crush you with all of my strength. It's the only way I can show how much I respect what you've accomplished."

"Ah…" I winced. "Uh… thanks… I guess…?"

There was my ill-deserved reputation again, and it finally looked like the bubble of absolute nonsense I'd build was about to explode, probably all over my head. If Pyrrha went all out she wouldn't beat me. She'd erase me from existence.

But, of course, that was only assuming there couldn't be some level of peace between us. I'd had no idea how to go about arranging it a second ago but Pyrrha made one mistake, one tiny mistake. She'd made herself into a threat.

And if there was one thing I'd come to realise I was a true master of, it was getting the hell out of any dangerous situation before it went off. Now that she'd basically put it down to `achieve peace or fight her`, I was more motivated than ever.

 _(it is often said that a Beowolf cornered is at its most dangerous. Seeing Jaune in numerous states of being cornered, I can more than confirm this.)_

"The war has gone on too long," I said, leaning forward. "I know there's only two hours left, probably only an hour and a bit now, but it's been five days and we've all suffered. Men starved and were hunted like Grimm through the halls, but now the girls are the ones without food. You'd have all gone hungry last night if it wasn't for me providing that food for you all."

"And we thank you for that. That's why we're here today giving this a chance."

As opposed to being in the cafeteria smashing us through tables, she didn't say. I'd banked on that. Hungry people were desperate people and we were the ones keeping the girls away from all the food they knew lay within. Weiss might have seen it as a bribe and Pyrrha as kindness, but yet again the truth was that I'd seen it as a chance to avoid a fight. Besides, it wasn't like the gesture actually cost us anything.

"I'm just trying to make it clear why we want to do this," I said. "This whole war was sprung on us without any warning and we've just played along. I know it's not serious and we're not actually trying to hurt one another, but wouldn't it be a better ending if we made peace?"

"Wouldn't that be against the rules?" Pyrrha asked.

"I haven't seen anything in them to suggest it." I had to hide a grin when her confidence wavered. I didn't have her yet, but I was on the right track. "Think about it, Ozpin started this war as an excuse to give us training for the Vytal Festival, but the festival itself is about co-operation and teamwork. It's literally a celebration of the kingdoms putting aside their differences and working together instead of making war."

"Isn't that the same thing we're doing here?" I asked, pressing my point. I even had Octavia at this point, the girl looking up with a curious expression. "What if that's the lesson this is trying to teach us, that we should be like the people back then and come to an agreement. Ozpin said we're enemies, but what does that even mean? He never said why, and our gender isn't a good reason for us to fight against one another."

Pyrrha's smile wavered. "I… well, you do have a point…"

"Team against team, friend against friend," I orated, taking a lead from Russel's book. "We've let mere words turn us against one another – and isn't that the exact kind of thing the Vytal Festival is trying to prevent? Isn't that the exact kind of thing the teachers here would _want_ us to learn?"

I could tell immediately that my words were working. Yang was nodding from the door, arms crossed but posture somehow less stiff than before. Even Weiss gave me a grudging nod, while Octavia had stopped writing entirely and stared at me with a profound wide-eyed gaze.

Pyrrha, though. Her smile was like a thousand suns rising.

"Incredible," she breathed. "Jaune, that's such a wonderful notion. Tell me, then. What is it you're suggesting?"

"Complete peace," I said, leaping at the chance. Sometimes the best way to convince someone of something was to just keep saying it, and to keep shouting it if you had to. Never give them a chance to doubt you. "Instead of being in a situation where there are winners and losers, we should work together. Everyone should win. Everyone should get the prize. We won't be two different armies, but one working together – and we'll raise the twin flags of our alliance on every capture point!" I slammed a hand down for emphasis. "Men and women, side by side, against the true enemy – the Grimm!"

The reverberations from my fist hitting the table echoed through the library. I hoped my quiet gasp and the wince I let off didn't. Damn table was harder than it looked.

"That is… while that is a very admirable suggestion, I'm not sure whether it would be allowed," Pyrrha finally said. "I'm not saying I'm against it. I don't think anyone else would be, either. It's just that we've already worked really hard to get where we are now. I have a responsibility to everyone that follows me."

"Well, we can just try it," I suggested. "You already own the majority of the capture points and my men are trapped in the cafeteria. We can declare we're one force and if it doesn't work, then you win. If it does, we both win."

"If there was a way to ask the headmaster…"

"He probably wouldn't tell us even if there was," I laughed, waving one hand to dismiss the idea. "Come on, Pyrrha. This is supposed to be a learning experience for us. I doubt the headmaster is going to undermine that by just explaining-"

The PA systems around the school screeched as they were turned on. Everyone's heads shot towards it, even as my mouth fell open.

No way…

Surely not…

" _Ahem, is this on? Ah, perfect."_ Ozpin paused to cough. _"Well, that was quite the inspirational display and a speech equally so, Mr Arc. You've certainly moved Doctor Oobleck."_ He paused again but I had the distinct feeling the microphone was being moved. What sounded like sobbing could be heard and a distant voice.

" _So beautiful,"_ it said. _"Peace and understanding… the next generation… mistakes of the last. So happy!"_

" _There, there, Bart,"_ Port could be heard saying.

" _I must admit that your speech also moved myself,"_ Ozpin said, speaking once more. _"You have indeed grasped the intent of the Vytal Festival and what it stands for, co-operation in the face of personal greed, intent, and even warfare. It is a moment for enemies to stand together as allies."_

"Then is he right?" Pyrrha called up toward the ceiling. "Is that what this whole civil war is about, to teach us a lesson on overcoming differences and working together?"

It took a good minute or so for Ozpin to respond.

My hopes took a nose dive.

" _It will be in the future. That's such a good idea I think I'll take it and run with it. Sadly, as much as it embarrasses us to admit it, we didn't plan for anything like this, so no, such an eventuality isn't a possible ending to this war."_

Of all the things I'd expected to happen to ruin my plans, Ozpin breaking the rules of the war to ruin my proposal hadn't been one of them. I'd been banking on his silence as a way to convince Pyrrha into something that obviously wouldn't be allowed, but which would let us avoid any combat.

" _That's not to say the lesson isn't a valuable one. Very well done, Mr Arc."_

"But you could change the rules!" I shouted. "You could make it so we can end in a peace agreement!"

" _I could, but I believe that would be somewhat unfair to those who have fought so far. Rest assured, in future I'll make sure it's an option. It isn't here, however. There can be only one victor to the Beacon Civil War."_ To Ozpin's credit he managed to sound a little embarrassed. _"Sorry to rain on your parade."_

Well, shit…

There went my plan.

Yang and Weiss pushed off from the door, flanking around slowly, though not so slow that Ren and I didn't have a chance to realise exactly what was happening. Blake had taken a step back as well, blocking our escape route, and weirdly enough it was the frantic scratching of pen on paper from Octavia that really drove home just how screwed we were.

"Let's not be hasty," I said, unsure who I was really talking to. "We can still declare a peace and wait until the war ends. Maybe we can change their minds!"

" _I'm afraid you can't."_

"I wasn't talking to you!" I howled.

" _Ah, my apologies. I'll leave you all to it, then."_ The PA system sounded again as it was switched off. A little too late for that in my opinion; thanks for nothing, Ozpin.

"You heard him, Jaune," Pyrrha said, standing. "I really was willing to go ahead with this, but if it's not going to work then there's no point. One side might as well get the prize money for competing. Otherwise all of this was a waste of time and effort."

I knew she had a point, and hell, a part of me knew that even if she agreed there might be others who took the decision out of her hands. Pyrrha was their leader but a leader was a slave to the people's wills. That was why I was stuck being some high and mighty general in the first bloody place.

"Ren, plan B!" I shouted, flipping the table.

Should anyone have later asked I'd have pointed out that there wasn't really a Plan B, since there hadn't been a Plan A either, or anything resembling a plan at all. My reputation worked in my favour however and Pyrrha gasped, leaping back so that she wouldn't be caught in whatever trickery we had in store.

In contrast, I bolted for the exit – Ren hot on my heels.

 _(I'd fought alongside Jaune long enough to know when to retreat; always)_

"GET THEM!" Pyrrha yelled.

To their credit the girls reacted quickly. Weiss and Yang gave chase while Blake moved to cut us off. She glanced between Ren and me and quickly decided incorrectly I was the most dangerous, moving to obstruct. I didn't stop running.

In a fair fight the difference between Blake and me was pretty big, the only advantage I really had being size and weight. I decided to put that to best effect by just _not stopping_ as I charged toward the exit and crashing into her. She tried to drag me down, and even managed a few good hits on my head and shoulders, but the sheer momentum of my flight ensured I accidentally kneed her in the thigh, carried her along more than a few feet, and then knocked her to the ground. I windmilled my arms for good measure, too.

"Keep running," I gasped to Ren, finally escaping the tangle of faunus on the floor. "Don't stop."

"Not stopping," he replied, gasping. "Do we split up?"

I shook my head, knowing full well that if we did every single woman would pick _me_ since they all thought I was the real threat here. "No, it's safer if we stick together. Go left. Head to the cafeteria."

"After them!" Weiss howled.

We burst out of the cafeteria and practically skid across the tiled floor, catching ourselves on the opposite wall and fleeing. I heard Pyrrha close behind, and Weiss behind her, throwing threats our way in a manner that ensured we both found untold energy and kept running. The next turn was a right and we took it at full pelt, dashing down the corridor and out into the open area that spanned the short sprint to the cafeteria itself.

What we saw froze us both in place. And when Weiss caught up a second later she made that a literal fact.

"Hi Jaune," Ruby said, stood at the head of a hundred girls, all between us and the cafeteria. The red reaper laughed nervously. "Um. Surprise?"

We'd been caught.

We'd been betrayed.

"You surrounded the cafeteria while we were in the peace meeting," I accused.

Pyrrha didn't quite meet my eyes. "It was just in case things didn't work out. Please understand, Jaune. I have to look out for my people just like you do yours. If we'd found a way to make peace work, then they wouldn't have attacked." She strode forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You've been captured. You're my prisoner now."

"And not a moment too soon," Weiss laughed. "There's less than an hour to go."

"We still have all the capture points outside this area," Yang reported, checking her scroll. "The boys only own the cafeteria now." She lowered it and looked to the dark shapes manning the windows and walls. "And they're all stuck in there."

"Perfect," Pyrrha said. She tugged me forwards. "I really am sorry about this, Jaune. But just in case things went south I had my entire army come here and prepare. You'd do the same, I'm sure."

"I really wouldn't have," I said. "I'm more of a defensive kind of guy. I'd have probably had them guard what we already had."

"Maybe that's where we differ."

"Maybe."

Pyrrha stopped a good forty metres or so away from the main entrance, out of range of any attack and with plenty of time to dodge if the defenders tried anything. She coughed and raised her voice. "Men of Beacon! We now have your leader, Jaune Arc, prisoner. The peace treaty has failed and you have this one opportunity to surrender. Do so, and we shall promise you fair treatment until the end of the war. Forty-five minutes as a prisoner is better than a protracted battle neither side needs."

There was no response from the barricade. The men stood there, unmoved and undaunted, even in the face of my capture. It seemed to unnerve Pyrrha.

"Tell them to surrender, Jaune."

"I can't." I said.

"You know this is hopeless! What is there to gain from holding out?"

"I can't tell them to surrender," I repeated.

"Why not?"

"Because they can't hear me," I said, quite reasonably.

Pyrrha didn't seem to understand. "Raise your voice."

"I can't shout loud enough."

"I know for a fact you can scream loud enough to be heard all across the Emerald Forest," Weiss growled from behind. "Pyrrha, he's obviously playing stupid. I say we attack immediately. There's no point delaying this any further. There isn't much time left."

"No…" Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. "Something isn't right."

She released me, even if Yang was quick to grab my hand and hold it behind my back, pushing me forward as Pyrrha walked towards the barricades. As she approached her pace quickened, until she was jogging forward – ignoring the cries of warning from her own ranks. She reached the barricade without taking a single attack, the men on the walls not launching any, and clambered over the upturned lockers without difficulty.

To the shock of all watching she tore Cardin's head off.

"It's not real!" she shouted, waving the inflated ball in one hand and even going so far as to rip te mop off the top of it. She kicked the body, and Cardin's armour crashed down to the ground, spilling bundled clothing and blankets from it. "None of them are real!"

"No way," Yang breathed. She let go of me and dashed forward. She hopped the first bench and slammed a fist into a hooded man's stomach. He toppled and fell, but remained oddly rigid as he did, the hood falling away to reveal a shell of clothing propped up around a broom covered and wrapped in kitchen towels. She took a deeper look inside. "The whole place is empty. The people at the windows don't even move. What the hell!?"

"I told you they couldn't hear me," I called. My voice echoed in the silence.

Weiss snarled and pushed forward, reaching me in an instant and gripping my hoodie with one fist. She dragged my face down, but not – as my dreams might have had it – to make out with me. "Where are they?" she hissed.

"Not here."

"How!?"

"You girls spent a lot of time in the cafeteria. It was pretty much your home for the first three or four days. I guess it makes sense you'd leave a lot of clothing behind, not to mention sleeping bags and the like."

Understanding dawned in her eyes. "You… no… you couldn't have!"

A distant explosion cut through the silence. A plume of smoke started to rise from the west. Pyrrha threw aside Cardin's head and stalked back into the open, staring out over the building to where the smoke came from.

"That's the West Wing," she whispered. "But why-?" Her eyes widened. They shot to me. "No…"

"Technically, if you'd not gathered all your forces here to try and root us out this wouldn't have happened," I said. "But I kind of figured Weiss would convince you to turn on us at the peace treaty. Why do you think I let her go?"

"B-Because you needed someone to pass on your message!"

Ren, held prisoner by Blake, laughed. "Anyone could have done that," he said. "But there were very few people who Jaune could be sure would whip you all up into attacking us. Calmer minds might have settled for holding just enough points to win, but we knew Weiss would want revenge for us capturing her."

Weiss shook her head, unwilling to believe it. "B-But Winchester disagreed. He was arguing with you. I saw it!"

"With good reason," Ren said. "No one liked the idea of Jaune being put in such danger."

"No one but me, of course," I added, grinning wildly. Because right now the _safest_ place in Beacon was as a prisoner for the last half an hour of the war, protected by the rules that said _no one_ could harm me and with not enough time for Nora to humiliate me. "Oh, you might want to check your scrolls by the way."

Pyrrha tore hers free, gasping at what she saw. She dialled a number quickly, and although she didn't activate the speakers it was all but impossible to hear what was taking place on the other side. It was the sound of battle.

" _We need help!"_ Someone, Coco, I would have guessed, yelled. _"They're everywhere. There's so many!"_

"How?" Pyrrha asked. "How did they sneak up on you?"

" _T-They didn't! They were here already. They dressed up as girls. It's a trap!"_

" _Traps everywhere,"_ Velvet shouted, before she yelped and went silent. There was a clang of steel on steel, and the sound of a male voice calling out.

" _For Jaune! For the King!"_

The call went dead. For the longest moment no one dared move, before – in an instant – everyone came to life, shouting and yelling, some milling at the back and others making to run back and contest the objectives I knew would be turning blue even now.

"Stop!" Pyrrha yelled. "Don't run off. That's what they want!" Her warning was enough to stop most, though some had already gone by that point. The Champion addressed the remainder. "We can't rush off or we'll be crushed. Yang, take some girls and go to the West Wing and capture _one_ point. Weiss, do the same on the east, but only the single point. Don't spread out, but rather focus all your efforts on a single location. Defend it as hard as you can! Blake, I want you to take two teams and ensure the other two points in the Centre of Beacon are ours. We can't spread out and weaken ourselves. Focus on claiming five points and five only, and then hold them!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the girls cried, before they split up and rushed away, Yang and Weiss barking orders the whole time.

"Ruby, you're with me," Pyrrha called, dashing into the cafeteria. "It's our job to hold this area."

"Just the two of us!?" Ruby asked, chasing after with Zwei yipping at her heels, excited to see all the people running around and shouting. His stubby tail wagged at a thousand rpm.

"The guys won't think to come back here," Pyrrha said, and she was right. The cafeteria was too hot, and I'd sent them out to the outer wings, where six objective points stood with minimal guards. It would take the women time to organise in chase, and even with Pyrrha's quick thinking there was a chance they might not make it.

Only a chance, though. They were more than strong enough to one point in each wing, and with the centre off limits that would leave the guys hard pressed. If my forces could only take four points then we'd still lose. I couldn't even pass any orders on, being limited by the prisoner rules, but also by the simple fact that the plan was already in motion. There was no stopping it now.

Ren and I were pushed down to sit together in the middle of the room, a mere two prisoners in what had once been a hard-fought fortress, now reduced to a graveyard protected by two women, albeit one of them being the strongest.

"Do you think they'll manage it?" Ren asked.

"I don't know. If anyone can, Cardin and Sun will find a way."

"But Yang and Weiss only need to take _one_ point each, and they have a third of the female forces with them."

I knew that, even as I knew they wouldn't be able to fight the girls back. We'd been forced to split our forces into a sixth each, one group for each point – while the girls had taken a third to just one point, instantly giving them the two-to-one advantage in every fight they took. Meanwhile, Blake's forces would take over the inner ring, preventing anyone from getting here and taking the three points spread through the cafeteria, library, and training rooms.

Our worst fears were confirmed as the minutes ticked by and Ruby began to rattle off what she was seeing on her scroll.

"Yang's got the upper-floor classrooms!" she yelled. "It's gone red!"

"Pink?" Pyrrha called.

"Red!" Ruby insisted, sticking her chin out. "It's ours. Weiss hasn't- no wait, it's just changed! Blake's got the other two in the middle, too. We're doing it!"

"And now we've done it," Pyrrha said, tripping over the blue flag in the cafeteria and putting the pink one in its place. "That's five points to four. How long is left?"

"Less than five minutes! Weiss just messaged me; she says they're holding strong!"

Damn it! Time was running out. That wouldn't have been an issue before, losing wouldn't have either – but after coming so far and giving up this much I'd be _damned_ before I let it end like this. I'd put up with too much shit! I'd started a bloody cult!

Ruby's scroll rang.

" _I need help!"_ Yang screamed through it. _"We're being attacked from behind. They're coming from the North Wing. They – it's-"_

" _FOR JAUNEHALLA!"_ Cardin Winchester screamed. _"Drive them back!"_

"The point's contested!" Ruby gasped. "It's gone grey! That makes it four to four!"

"A draw?" Pyrrha gasped.

"N-No. The rules say if it's a draw it'll enter sudden-"

The school's speakers came to life with a familiar screech. Ozpin's voice came through, clear as day.

" _The time has been reached but the score is currently even. As such, Beacon will now enter sudden death mode. The first side to have a numerical advantage in terms of capture points will be declared victors of the Beacon Civil War."_ The message ended with a loud click.

Sudden death? Why hadn't I known about this? Oh right, it was because I'd been so focused on survival that I'd paid no attention to actually winning up until now. The decision to continue the war left the fate of the battle in Cardin's hands now, the General of my forces, who had abandoned his post in the North to launch a blistering attack on the flank of Yang's army besieging Yatsuhashi's forces in the West Wing.

"Ruby, call Blake and tell her to dispatch reinforcements to the West Wing," Pyrrha ordered. "I want her there in person! Tell her to focus on the flag. Forget the battle, just get that flag placed pink!"

"Red…"

"RUBY!"

"Okay, okay!" Ruby was shaking as she dialled her teammate's number, and frantic as she relayed the message – getting an affirmative. I knew things were bad. They were about to get worse. Cardin and Yatsu were tough as nails, but not even they could hope to stand up to the combined might of Yang, Blake, and all the Ninjas of Love. Nora might even be on her way too, in which case it was only a matter of time until this ended.

Damn it! If only we could do something, but without a guy to `free` us, we couldn't reach the flag – and if we tried then the teachers would surely discount it. There wasn't a damn way for us to influence the battle at all, and Ruby was standing guard near it, still on her scroll as Pyrrha paced by the entrance and-

Wait…

Of course!

"Fetch!" I screamed, voice high pitched. Ruby, Ren and Pyrrha turned to look at me, none the wiser, but I didn't give up. "Fetch!" I repeated. "Fetch the stick, boy. Fetch it!"

Ruby wasn't an idiot. She gasped and dropped her scroll. "Zwei, NO! Don't fetch!"

The corgi's head perked up. It hadn't before, too distracted by what was going on, but Ruby's shout – his master's shout – had reached his ears. The word `fetch` dominated, even if the `don't` part went curiously forgotten. It was always the same with Zwei. I knew that from being asked to babysit him regularly. You could say `don't eat my food while I go to the bathroom` and you'd come back to find it eaten. He was a very clever dog. He just had selective hearing. In this case `don't fetch` had only one translation.

His tail wagged.

He zipped forward.

Ruby activated her Semblance instantly. Crescent Rose was tossed aside as she surged toward the corgi, or more into its path. She came to a skidding halt in front of him and tried to catch the dog, only to struggle and yelp as Zwei slipped between her legs and ran on, ducking past Ruby's grip with the experience of one used to escaping whenever he was cornered for a bath.

The pink flag stood proudly ahead – attached to a long, wooden stick.

Zwei's panting reached a fever pitch.

But a pair of hands caught him before he could reach it. Pyrrha hit the ground hard, the diving-tackle carrying her a good few feet across the tiles. She held onto the dog, cradling it against her chest so it wouldn't be hurt from the fall.

"Yes, Pyrrha!" Ruby shouted.

My heart fell. Zwei had been our only hope…

"Not today," Pyrrha groaned, wincing a little from her fall. She held Zwei out in front of her face, easily ignoring his frantic squirming as he tried to escape. "You already cost us food before, mister. You're not – ow – losing us this as well."

It was done. All hope fled and I sagged where I sat, hands hitting the tiled floor as reality struck with the force of a Bullhead. Our final chance, my desperate gambit, had been stopped at last. Now all that was left was to rely on Cardin, who surely couldn't hold against _two thirds_ of the women's forces. It was over for us. We'd lost.

"Pyrrha!" Ren suddenly cried out, eyes flashing. "When Jaune took Ruby as his personal prisoner they shared a room together. They slept together!"

My mouth fell open.

"The _hell_ , Ren!?"

"No, no, no." Ruby yelped. "W-We didn't do anything like that. That didn't happen! Pyrrha, don't listen to him."

"Ruby…?" Pyrrha asked, voice oddly hurt.

"He's lying! We didn't!"

"But Jaune is your prisoner now," Ren continued. "He's yours to do with as you wish, for you to do whatever you want with. Your _personal_ prisoner."

"Ren, you traitor!" I yelled.

"Anything at all, Pyrrha. _Anything_. Just imagine it. Imagine what it would be like…"

She clearly did imagine it, though what terrible things she might put me through I had no idea. They must have been truly awful though, for she gasped and coloured instantly. Her mouth fell open, but no words came forth. Her cheeks turned pink, and then red, and then something resembling fire dust. Her eyes widened too, and as she looked to me, they only grew wider.

"Um. Be gentle?" I begged, cringing. When it didn't provoke a response, I decided to try a little harder. "Be gentle, my Queen?"

It was too much. Pyrrha stared at me, somehow growing even redder in the face. Her entire body vibrated, green eyes almost popping out. With a mortified squeak, she slapped both hands to her cheeks and hid her face from view.

" _The Beacon Civil War has ended!"_ Ozpin announced. _"All students lay down arms and cease fighting immediately. I repeat – the Beacon Civil War has ended!"_

It was fitting, perhaps, that the war end where it had all begun – in Beacon's cafeteria. I could remember vaguely that moment between the fourth and fifth bite where the war had been declared, and where Ren and I had become strangers in a world that didn't feel our own. A time before Kingdoms, before religion, and before warfare. That was only a week ago, and yet it felt much longer. The Beacon Civil War had started with noise and violence but ended differently.

It ended with a cheerful corgi proudly spitting out a pink flag at Ruby's feet, ignoring the hand she'd slapped over her face.

* * *

 **Closing Excerpt**

 **Lie Ren**

 **Confidant, Spymaster, Friend**

* * *

 _To those who have read thus far, I commend thee. I strove to write down and collect the disjoined tales and notes that made up the Beacon Civil War, augmenting them as necessary with excerpts from others who could add insight from additional angles and points of view, while always working from the source material that made up Jaune's diary._

 _I feel that many who read this in times to come will see it as a fictional tale, or a story to read in search of entertainment. If that is so, then I believe none of us shall complain – for it is better to be entertained than gripped by anger or sorrow._

 _But that was not my full intention in penning this. Though the legend lives still in the hearts of many, legends have a tendency to grow larger than life, and my goal was to ensure this did not happen. Heroes were made in this lone week, but not all were as it seemed, and people like to exaggerate at times. I hope here, that by giving you an unadulterated view into the thoughts and feelings of the man at the centre of it all, that I can provide you – if only for an instance – a chance to see what it was truly like._

 _A chance, perhaps, to see what Jaune Arc was truly like. The man behind the legend._

 _Some saw Jaune as a God, others saw him as a leader, and there were even some who saw him as a desperate man trying to survive. Here, in his own notes, you can see the man for what he truly is. Not an infallible agent of good, not a genius beyond all measure, but a man like any other, and one wracked with doubt and self-criticism. Perhaps you can even see what I see; that he judges himself too harshly._

 _For after all, how could one judge given what He has created?_

 _How can one judge the man who would unite us all? He who reaped? He who created the mighty Kingdom of Jaunehalla, which lives on today in the hearts of all men. Yes, my brothers. Our Lord is one so humble that even He can feel doubt, even when His mighty will is beyond all reproach._

 _Long Live Jaunehalla._

 _Long Live Jaune._

 _Long live the-_

* * *

The book closed with a loud _clap_. Jaune put it down on the cafeteria table, staring over the cover at Ren, who watched with a curious expression. "What do you think? I tried to capture the essence of it all. I think I did a fairly good job."

"What I `think` is that I clearly misjudged you," Jaune said with an acute note of despair in his voice. "And that fact leaves me deeply disappointed. You do realise I was _genuinely_ terrified, right? All of my `strategy` was just luck mixed with fear."

"If you say so," Ren replied. It was obvious he didn't believe it. He was as fanatical as the others, he just knew how to hide it – and any criticism Jaune aimed at himself was _clearly_ just another sign of how much he misjudged himself. The disappointment was real.

"Well, that was pretty interesting," Yang said, stealing the book as Jaune groaned and let his head fall onto the table. "So, I mean, I know you were their leader, but you actually started a cult? Is this for real?"

"Russel did try to sell me some book earlier…" Ruby murmured.

"Mental note," Jaune moaned. "Steal and burn them all."

The girls laughed, Yang jeering a little as she poked his cheek just to add to his misery. The war had ended only a week or so ago and life had pretty much returned to normal, albeit some repairs were still being undertaken on the school. There didn't look to be any lasting effects. Well, unless you counted the fact Zwei had been forced to bunk with Team JNPR for a few days to stop Blake from doing anything hasty.

"I can't believe how wound up we all got about that thing," Nora said, and they could all laugh at the memory of it now, even if it had been a little darker at the time. "I mean, wow, that was nuts!"

"I know," Pyrrha giggled, "and to think it didn't even matter!"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked. "What do you mean?"

"We shared the prize money anyway," Jaune said, shrugging. "Pyrrha and Nora said they'd have done the same if they won, which means it actually didn't matter which side won the war. We have two girls and two guys either way, so it didn't matter who on for us. Pretty funny, huh?"

A deadly chill spread across the table, causing all four members of Team JNPR to stiffen.

"Yeah," Yang gritted out, eyes red, nails biting into a solid wood table. "That's real funny. No difference either way. Ha ha…"

"Who needs cookies anyway?" Ruby's laughter was brittle. "Full of carbs and fat. Who even needs them?"

"Ninjas of Love special edition collector's set… all gone…"

Weiss just glowered.

"A-Anyway," Pyrrha said, changing the subject before _another_ civil war could start. "Miss Goodwitch said this will all be valuable experience for us, not just in terms of fighting, but also leadership and organisation. She did say there would be plenty of remedial lessons though. She seemed upset."

"I heard she made a bet with Ozpin on who would win," Yang said, calming down.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you believe that rumour. I very much doubt the teachers would be so unprofessional as to gamble on us like that. She's probably just upset that we let victory slip out of our grasp. How unlucky can we be?"

"Unlucky?" Ren asked. "Don't you mean `outmatched`?"

"I mean unlucky," Weiss growled. "You may have found religion, but I'll thank you not to try and push it in my face. Jaune practically admitted he was all just a lucky accident."

"My work makes it clear he's simply self-critical."

"If that's what you want to call it. I'd say delusional."

"Coming from the one responsible for leading her own forces into a trap."

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Octavia's notes suggested otherwise."

Weiss surged to her feet. "Take that back!"

Ren did the same opposite. "No."

"Whooo!" Nora cheered. "Go Renny! Defend our team leader's honour! Fight, fight, fight!"

Jaune ignored it all and stood from the table with a sigh, scratching the back of his head with one hand as he waited for Pyrrha, Ruby and Blake to stand, leaving the others behind – Yang to spectate and record the upcoming argument, Nora to cheer it on.

"Ren certainly seems to have become a lot more confident after this," Pyrrha giggled. "That or he's just protective of his work. He put a lot of effort into writing that."

"And I'm sure it'll look really good on the fiction section of a book store," Jaune groaned. "Believe me, I wasn't nearly as awesome as he made me out to be. I was a nervous wreck the entire time. I just wanted to survive."

"But in the end you won," Blake pointed out.

"Yeah, and you were frightened off by Zwei," Ruby giggled.

"With good reason, I feel. That mutt cost us the entire war! Jaune wouldn't have even _started_ his insurrection if it wasn't for you letting that stupid corgi out of your sight. He only found Cardin and teamed up with him because he was chasing Zwei. We only lost the food in Jaunehall-"

"Please don't say that name," Jaune begged, face red.

"In that place," Blake amended. "We only lost it because of Zwei. You only got captured because of him. _I_ only got captured because of him – and we only lost the war because of him!"

"All hail Zwei," Jaune said sarcastically. "In His name do we trust."

"Praise be," Pyrrha echoed, and then quickly laughed. "Oh, come on, you guys. It's not so bad. We all had fun, no one got hurt, and we had a week without homework. What's not to like? We also made a whole heap of new friends too. I met this girl called Cinder, and she seemed really impressed with you, Jaune. She said something about how she had to `call something off` because `he` might ruin all their plans or something."

"Weird. Did she say what that was about?"

"I don't think so. Her teammate – that Mercury guy - is loyal to you though, and she seemed worried about that. Either way, I feel like everyone is a little closer now. Ren has been spending time with Team CRDL and Team SSSN. I also heard Cardin declare he was wrong about faunus and shout about how Sun was his new best friend. All in all, I'd say this was a grand experience."

"Easy for you to say," Blake grumbled. "You got the prize money…"

"I'm more curious to see how things continue on around here now that this is all done and over," Ruby said. "Do you think this'll change anything? With the Vytal Festival, I mean?"

"I doubt it," Jaune stepped through a door being held open for him. "Honestly, not much has changed as far as I can see, and life will go back to normal soon enough. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but I think the most we'll get out of it is the experience. Well, unless Ren sells that book of his."

Ruby stopped to stare. "You don't think anything will change?"

"Nah. It's the same old Beacon as far as I'm concerned." Jaune yawned and walked on, Pyrrha beside him gazing lovingly – and not so subtly – at his backside.

Ruby hesitated and looked back, first to Cardin, stood on one side of the corridor, and then to Sun on the other, both with a hand on the doors, opening them for Jaune and his party. Down the corridor they'd just passed, men knelt with their hands on their hearts, and each time Jaune passed another, the man would stop and kneel, whispering words of awe and fealty. Even Doctor Oobleck had bowed low, wiping a tear from one eye.

"Yeah…" Ruby said, as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. "Nothing different at all…"

* * *

 **Final Notes:**

* * *

 **And there we go. I put the last two chapters into one, looking to end it on 13 because of reasons. I dunno. Anyway, that's the end of the Beacon Civil War. Zwei retains MVP Status, and Jaune pulls out a desperate gamble that relies on his enemies acting exactly as he thinks they will except that – lo and behold – his decision to release Weiss was precisely to increase the chance they** _ **would**_ **get cocky and go for an all-out attack.**

 **And yes, it's intentional for it to go third person in the end. The entire fic has basically been the teams reading through Ren's book at a cafeteria table one week after the war.**

 **All in all, it's been a fun story.**

 **Could it have gone on for another chapter or two? Maybe, but I felt it would be dragged on if it did and I wanted to avoid that. They had a treaty until two hours before the end and Jaune and Ren were trapped as prisoners. Were there another day to the war it might have been nice to have a display of how the guys can work together even** _ **without**_ **their leader – all to rescue him. But ultimately the war didn't have another day and I liked this ending. Also, it's 10k words, so arguably it's two chapters anyway. Go figure.**

 **I'm glad to see people warmed up to this story, and I hope people can see how something like this might actually be good for people - forging bonds of friendship between Cardin and Sun, for instance, but also granting everyone really good experience on what war can be like, while in a peaceful and controlled setting.  
**

* * *

 **NEXT STORY:**

* * *

 **Well, there's normally a week off before a new story comes out, but call me insane or call you lucky, but I've actually already been writing ahead on it, which means I may not need that week. As such, I'll say the new story will come out in two weeks – on the same time as this would normally. It's not one being Beta'd by College Fool for a change, though CF has seen and offered thoughts on the plan at times. This has no beta because I've just been too busy to write chapters early and actually get them to CF. It's not because of any drama between us, and CF is actually writing some stuff of his own now, so double win from my point of view.**

 **I don't really want to say what my new story will be because I don't want that to overtake the reviews at the end of this one. I might just save and keep it a surprise for once, since usually when I reveal what I'm writing some people decide to PM or comment that they don't like it even when they haven't read a single chapter or it's not out.**

 **I'll save myself the negativity in that case! It ISN'T a story on my profile however, so don't ask. It's something I came up with a few weeks back and started planning and plotting out.**

* * *

 **Beacon Civil War: Finished (24th February 2018)**

 **Next Story: 10th March - NEW Story Released**

 **P a treon . com (slash) Coeur**


End file.
